Betina Popova
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Betina Vadimovna Popova (, born 2 November 1996) is a Russian retired competitive
ice dancer Ice dance (sometimes referred to as ice dancing) is a discipline of figure skating that historically draws from ballroom dancing. It joined the World Figure Skating Championships in 1952, and became a Winter Olympic Games medal sport in 1976. A ...
. With partner
Sergey Mozgov Sergey Alexandrovich Mozgov (; born 10 March 1995) is a Russian retired competitive ice dancer. With former partner Betina Popova, he is the 2017 CS Warsaw Cup champion. With former partner Anna Yanovskaya, he was the 2015 World Junior champi ...
, she was the 2017 CS Warsaw Cup champion. With former partner Yuri Vlasenko, she was the 2014–15 JGP Final bronze medalist.


Early life

Betina Vadimovna Popova was born on 2 November 1996 in
Vladivostok Vladivostok ( ; , ) is the largest city and the administrative center of Primorsky Krai and the capital of the Far Eastern Federal District of Russia. It is located around the Zolotoy Rog, Golden Horn Bay on the Sea of Japan, covering an area o ...
,
Primorsky Krai Primorsky Krai, informally known as Primorye, is a federal subjects of Russia, federal subject (a krais of Russia, krai) of Russia, part of the Far Eastern Federal District in the Russian Far East. The types of inhabited localities in Russia, ...
, Russia. She started skating in 2002. Her first coach was Marina Selitskaya.


Partnership with Vlasenko

Popova and Yuri Vlasenko began competing together in 2009. The two were coached by Ksenia Rumiantseva and Ekaterina Zhurina at the Sambo-70 club in
Moscow Moscow is the Capital city, capital and List of cities and towns in Russia by population, largest city of Russia, standing on the Moskva (river), Moskva River in Central Russia. It has a population estimated at over 13 million residents with ...
. Popova/Vlasenko's international debut came at the
2011 NRW Trophy The NRW Trophy (also known as the NRW Summer Trophy or the NRW Autumn Trophy) is an annual international figure skating competition organized by the Skating Union of North Rhine-Westphalia. Since 2007, it has been sanctioned by the Deutsche Eisla ...
. They placed seventh at the Russian Junior Championships in the 2012–13 season.


2013–14 season

Popova/Vlasenko made their
ISU Junior Grand Prix The ISU Junior Grand Prix of Figure Skating (titled the ISU Junior Series in the 1997–98 season) is a series of international figure skating competition, junior-level competitions organized by the International Skating Union. Medals are awarded ...
debut in the 2013–14 season. They won the silver medal in
Minsk Minsk (, ; , ) is the capital and largest city of Belarus, located on the Svislach (Berezina), Svislach and the now subterranean Nyamiha, Niamiha rivers. As the capital, Minsk has a special administrative status in Belarus and is the administra ...
,
Belarus Belarus, officially the Republic of Belarus, is a landlocked country in Eastern Europe. It is bordered by Russia to the east and northeast, Ukraine to the south, Poland to the west, and Lithuania and Latvia to the northwest. Belarus spans an a ...
and then gold in
Ostrava Ostrava (; ; ) is a city in the north-east of the Czech Republic and the capital of the Moravian-Silesian Region. It has about 283,000 inhabitants. It lies from the border with Poland, at the confluences of four rivers: Oder, Opava (river), Opa ...
,
Czech Republic The Czech Republic, also known as Czechia, and historically known as Bohemia, is a landlocked country in Central Europe. The country is bordered by Austria to the south, Germany to the west, Poland to the northeast, and Slovakia to the south ...
. Their results qualified them for the JGP Final in
Fukuoka is the List of Japanese cities by population, sixth-largest city in Japan and the capital city of Fukuoka Prefecture, Japan. The city is built along the shores of Hakata Bay, and has been a center of international commerce since ancient times. ...
, Japan, where they placed fourth. After taking the bronze medal at the 2014 Russian Junior Championships, the two were assigned to the 2014 World Junior Championships and finished seventh in
Sofia Sofia is the Capital city, capital and List of cities and towns in Bulgaria, largest city of Bulgaria. It is situated in the Sofia Valley at the foot of the Vitosha mountain, in the western part of the country. The city is built west of the Is ...
, Bulgaria.


2014–15 season

Popova/Vlasenko's first assignment of the 2014–15 JGP season was in
Ostrava Ostrava (; ; ) is a city in the north-east of the Czech Republic and the capital of the Moravian-Silesian Region. It has about 283,000 inhabitants. It lies from the border with Poland, at the confluences of four rivers: Oder, Opava (river), Opa ...
, Czech Republic. Ranked second in the short dance and fourth in the free dance, they finished second to Canada's Mackenzie Bent / Garrett MacKeen by a margin of 6.75 points. Popova/Vlasenko were awarded gold in
Dresden Dresden (; ; Upper Saxon German, Upper Saxon: ''Dräsdn''; , ) is the capital city of the States of Germany, German state of Saxony and its second most populous city after Leipzig. It is the List of cities in Germany by population, 12th most p ...
, Germany after placing first in both segments and outscoring
Lorraine McNamara Lorraine McNamara (born February 18, 1999) is an American ice dancer. With her skating partner, Anton Spiridonov, she is the 2023 World University Games silver medalist and 2022 CS U.S. Classic bronze medalist. With her former partner, Quinn ...
/
Quinn Carpenter Quinn Carpenter (born February 24, 1996) is an American retired ice dancer. With his former skating partner, Lorraine McNamara, he is the 2018 Grand Prix of Helsinki bronze medalist, a three-time silver medalist on the ISU Challenger Series, an ...
of the United States by 7.96 points. At the 2014–15 JGP Final in
Barcelona Barcelona ( ; ; ) is a city on the northeastern coast of Spain. It is the capital and largest city of the autonomous community of Catalonia, as well as the second-most populous municipality of Spain. With a population of 1.6 million within c ...
, they won the bronze medal behind
Alla Loboda Alla Andreyevna Loboda (; born 10 December 1998) is a Russian former competitive ice dancer. With her former skating partner Pavel Drozd, she is a two-time World Junior medalist (silver in 2017, bronze in 2016), a three-time JGP Final silver me ...
/
Pavel Drozd Pavel Igorevich Drozd (; born 14 December 1995) is a Russian ice dancer who currently competes with Elizaveta Shichina. With his former skating partner, Alla Loboda, he is a two-time World Junior medalist (silver in 2017, bronze in 2016), a thre ...
. The two finished eleventh at the 2015 World Junior Championships in
Tallinn Tallinn is the capital city, capital and List of cities in Estonia, most populous city of Estonia. Situated on a Tallinn Bay, bay in north Estonia, on the shore of the Gulf of Finland of the Baltic Sea, it has a population of (as of 2025) and ...
, Estonia.


2015–16 season

Competing in the 2015–16 JGP series, Popova/Vlasenko outscored Angélique Abachkina / Louis Thauron of France by 7.3 points for the gold in
Riga Riga ( ) is the capital, Primate city, primate, and List of cities and towns in Latvia, largest city of Latvia. Home to 591,882 inhabitants (as of 2025), the city accounts for a third of Latvia's total population. The population of Riga Planni ...
, Latvia. They took silver at their JGP assignment in
Logroño Logroño ( , , ) is the capital of the autonomous community of La Rioja (Spain), La Rioja, Spain. Located in the north of the Iberian Peninsula, primarily in the right (South) bank of the Ebro River, Logroño has historically been a place of pa ...
, Spain – finishing second to another French team,
Marie-Jade Lauriault Marie-Jade Lauriault (born 10 November 1996) is a Canadian-French ice dancer who currently represents Canada with her partner and husband Romain Le Gac, in which capacity she is the 2022 Skate America bronze medallist, 2023 CS Budapest Trophy sil ...
/
Romain Le Gac Romain Le Gac (born 31 May 1995) is a French-Canadian ice dancer who currently represents Canada with his partner and wife Marie-Jade Lauriault, in which capacity he is the 2022 Skate America bronze medallist, 2023 CS Budapest Trophy silver medal ...
, by a margin of 1.78 points – and qualified for their third JGP Final. At the final, held in December in Barcelona, Popova/Vlasenko finished fourth, having scored 0.45 less than the bronze medalists, Rachel Parsons / Michael Parsons of the United States. After taking silver behind Loboda/Drozd at the Russian Junior Championships, they were assigned to the World Junior Championships in
Debrecen Debrecen ( ; ; ; ) is Hungary's cities of Hungary, second-largest city, after Budapest, the regional centre of the Northern Great Plain Regions of Hungary, region and the seat of Hajdú-Bihar County. A city with county rights, it was the large ...
, Hungary.


Partnership with Mozgov

On 2 May 2016, Popova confirmed that she and
Sergey Mozgov Sergey Alexandrovich Mozgov (; born 10 March 1995) is a Russian retired competitive ice dancer. With former partner Betina Popova, he is the 2017 CS Warsaw Cup champion. With former partner Anna Yanovskaya, he was the 2015 World Junior champi ...
had formed a partnership, with
Elena Kustarova Elena Vladimirovna Kustarova (; born 26 July 1976) is a Russian ice dancing coach and former competitor. She is a two-time (1990, 1991) World Junior medalist with Sergei Romashkin, a two-time (1993, 1994) Russian national medalist with Oleg Ovs ...
and Svetlana Alexeeva serving as their coaches. Popova/Mozgov made their international debut at the
2016 CS Golden Spin of Zagreb The 2016 CS Golden Spin of Zagreb was the 49th edition of the annual senior-level international figure skating competition held in Zagreb, Croatia. It was held at the Dom sportova in December 2016 as part of the 2016–17 ISU Challenger Series. Me ...
where they placed fifth.


2017–18 season

In 2017–18 season they competed at three
ISU Challenger Series The ISU Challenger Series is a series of international figure skating competitions. Established by the International Skating Union in the 2014–15 figure skating season, 2014–15 season, it is a group of senior-level events ranked below the ISU ...
competitions. They won the gold medal at the 2017 CS Warsaw Cup with a personal best score of 164.07 points. They also won the bronze medal at the 2017 CS Ondrej Nepela Trophy. At the 2017 CS Finlandia Trophy they placed fifth. In October 2017 they made their
Grand Prix ( , meaning ''Grand Prize''; plural ''Grands Prix'') most commonly refers to: * Grand Prix motor racing, a form of motorsport competition ** List of Formula One Grands Prix, an auto-racing championship *** Monaco Grand Prix, the most prestigious ...
debut at the
2017 Rostelecom Cup The 2017 Rostelecom Cup was the first event of six in the 2017–18 ISU Grand Prix of Figure Skating, a senior-level international invitational competition series. It was held at the Megasport Arena in Moscow on October 20–22. Medals were awar ...
where they placed sixth. In December 2017 they competed at the 2018 Russian Championships where they placed fourth after placing fifth in the short dance and third in the free dance. In May 2018
Anjelika Krylova Anjelika Alexeyevna Krylova (; born 4 July 1973) is a Russian retired ice dancer. With partner Oleg Ovsyannikov, she is the 1998 Olympic silver medalist and two-time (1998, 1999) World champion. She currently works as a coach and choreographer ...
and Oleg Volkov became their new coaches.


2018–19 season

Popova/Mozgov started their season in mid September at the
2018 CS Ondrej Nepela Trophy The 2018 CS Ondrej Nepela Trophy was held on September 19–22, 2018, at the Ondrej Nepela Arena in Bratislava, Slovakia. It was part of the 2018–19 ISU Challenger Series. Medals were awarded in men's singles, women's singles, pair skating, ...
where they won the bronze medal with a personal best score of 170.47 points. In early November they placed seventh at the
2018 Grand Prix of Helsinki The 2018 Grand Prix of Helsinki was held in Helsinki, Finland, from November 2–4. It was the third event of the 2018–2019 ISU Grand Prix of Figure Skating, 2018–19 ISU Grand Prix of Figure Skating, a senior-level international invitational ...
. Three weeks later they finished eighth at the
2018 Internationaux de France The 2018 Internationaux de France was the sixth event of six in the 2018–19 ISU Grand Prix of Figure Skating, a senior-level international invitational competition series. It was held at Patinoire Polesud in Grenoble on November 23–25. Medals ...
. In early December they won their second Challenger Series bronze medal of the season at the
2018 CS Golden Spin of Zagreb The 2018 CS Golden Spin of Zagreb was held in December 2018 as part of the 2018–19 ISU Challenger Series. Medals were awarded in the disciplines of men's singles, ladies' singles, pair skating, and ice dancing. Entries The International Skatin ...
. They placed fourth at the Russian Championships for the second consecutive year. In March, Popova/Mozgov have participated in the
2019 Winter Universiade The 2019 Winter Universiade (), the XXIX Winter Universiade, was a multi-sport event for student and youth athletes which took place from 2 to 12 March 2019 in the Russian city of Krasnoyarsk. The 2019 Winter Universiade was the third Universia ...
in
Krasnoyarsk Krasnoyarsk is the largest types of inhabited localities in Russia, city and administrative center of Krasnoyarsk Krai, Russia. It is situated along the Yenisey, Yenisey River, and is the second-largest city in Siberia after Novosibirsk, with a p ...
Russia. They finished first in the short and second in the free, earning the gold medal with a total of 183.01 points.


2019–20 season

Popova/Mozgov took time off to heal injuries following their Universiade victory, and then resumed training for the new season. The two selected "
Bohemian Rhapsody "Bohemian Rhapsody" is a song by the British rock music, rock band Queen (band), Queen, released as the lead single from their fourth studio album, ''A Night at the Opera (Queen album), A Night at the Opera'' (1975). Written by Queen's lead si ...
" as their free dance music, believing it would be a new sort of material for them. They placed fourth at the 2019 CS Ondrej Nepela Memorial and then won the bronze medal at the
2019 CS Finlandia Trophy The 2019 CS Finlandia Trophy was held in October 2019 in Espoo. It was part of the 2019–20 ISU Challenger Series. Medals were awarded in the disciplines of men's singles, ladies' singles, pair skating, and ice dance. Entries The Internationa ...
. Given one
Grand Prix ( , meaning ''Grand Prize''; plural ''Grands Prix'') most commonly refers to: * Grand Prix motor racing, a form of motorsport competition ** List of Formula One Grands Prix, an auto-racing championship *** Monaco Grand Prix, the most prestigious ...
assignment, they placed eighth at the
2019 Skate Canada International The 2019 Skate Canada International was the second event of the 2019–20 ISU Grand Prix of Figure Skating, a senior-level international invitational competition series. It was held at Prospera Place in Kelowna, British Columbia from October 25 ...
. Popova/Mozgov announced their retirement from competition on February 14, 2020, with Popova indicating that she was dealing with an
eating disorder An eating disorder is a mental disorder defined by abnormal eating behaviors that adversely affect a person's health, physical or mental health, mental health. These behaviors may include eating too much food or too little food. Types of eatin ...
.


Post-competitive life and career

Popova began working as a skating choreographer in Moscow, including with the pairs team of
Daria Pavliuchenko Daria Maksimovna Pavliuchenko (, born 31 December 2002) is a Russian pair skater. With her skating partner, Denis Khodykin, she is the 2020 European bronze medalist, the 2019 Internationaux de France and 2019 Skate America silver medalist, and ...
and Denis Khodykin. Popova and Khodykin married in August 2020, but did not announce this until the following May. However,they eventually divorced. Popova indicated her disaffection with the realities of ice dancing at a young age, sharing in 2020 that she was asked to show “sex” and “passion” towards her older partner when she was fourteen.


Programs


With Mozgov


With Vlasenko


Competitive highlights

''GP:
Grand Prix ( , meaning ''Grand Prize''; plural ''Grands Prix'') most commonly refers to: * Grand Prix motor racing, a form of motorsport competition ** List of Formula One Grands Prix, an auto-racing championship *** Monaco Grand Prix, the most prestigious ...
; CS: Challenger Series; JGP:
Junior Grand Prix The ISU Junior Grand Prix of Figure Skating (titled the ISU Junior Series in the 1997–98 season) is a series of international junior-level competitions organized by the International Skating Union. Medals are awarded in the disciplines of men ...
''


With Mozgov


With Vlasenko


Detailed results

''Small medals for short and free programs awarded only at ISU Championships. At team events, medals awarded for team results only.''


With Mozgov


With Vlasenko


References


External links

* * * {{DEFAULTSORT:Popova, Betina 1996 births Russian female ice dancers Living people Sportspeople from Vladivostok FISU World University Games gold medalists for Russia Winter World University Games medalists in figure skating Competitors at the 2019 Winter Universiade 21st-century Russian sportswomen