Daria Popova (born 28 July 1993) is a Russian former competitive pair skater. From 2011 to 2014, she competed with

Bruno Massot Bruno Massot (born 28 January 1989) is a French-German pair skating coach and former competitor. Competing with Aljona Savchenko for Germany, he is the 2018 Olympic Champion, the 2018 World Champion, a two-time European silver medalist, and t ...

, winning the 2014

Challenge Cup The Rugby Football League Challenge Cup, commonly known just as the Challenge Cup is a Single-elimination tournament, knockout rugby league cup competition organised by the Rugby Football League, held annually since 1896, it is the world's old ...

and the 2012 French national title. The pair finished in the top ten at the

2012 2012 was designated as: *International Year of Cooperatives *International Year of Sustainable Energy for All Events January *January 4 – The Cicada 3301 internet hunt begins. * January 12 – Peaceful protests begin in the R ...

and 2013 European Championships. Popova also briefly skated for France with Andrei Novoselov.

Personal life

Popova and her family moved to

Germany Germany, officially the Federal Republic of Germany, is a country in Central Europe. It lies between the Baltic Sea and the North Sea to the north and the Alps to the south. Its sixteen States of Germany, constituent states have a total popu ...

when she was seven. She speaks German, Russian, English, and French.

Career

Early years

Popova began skating in Moscow. She was initially a singles skater and competed on the Nachwuchs and Jugend levels in Germany in 2006 and 2007. She took up pair skating in 2009 and trained with coach

Ingo Steuer Ingo Steuer (born 1 November 1966) is a German pair skater and skating coach. With Mandy Wötzel, he is the 1998 Olympic bronze medalist, the 1997 World champion, the 1995 European champion, and a four-time German national champion. As a c ...

in Germany. She skated with Ilja Glebov and Sergei Karev but did not compete with either in any major event.

Partnership with Massot

Popova and French skater

decided to team up in March 2011 and began serious training in June. They trained mainly in

Caen Caen (; ; ) is a Communes of France, commune inland from the northwestern coast of France. It is the Prefectures in France, prefecture of the Departments of France, department of Calvados (department), Calvados. The city proper has 105,512 inha ...

, France, with Jean-Francois Ballester. In their first season together, they also trained about three weeks every three months with

Chemnitz Chemnitz (; from 1953 to 1990: Karl-Marx-Stadt (); ; ) is the third-largest city in the Germany, German States of Germany, state of Saxony after Leipzig and Dresden, and the fourth-largest city in the area of former East Germany after (East Be ...

, Germany. Popova/Massot's first competition together was the 2011 Master's de Patinage, where they won the silver medal. They were tenth in their international debut at the 2011 Coupe de Nice and placed fourth at the 2011 NRW Trophy. In December 2011, they won the 2012 French national title ahead of

Vanessa James Vanessa James Amoros (Birth name, née James; born 27 September 1987) is a Canadian retired pair skater. Representing France with her former skating partner, Morgan Ciprès, she is the 2019 European Figure Skating Championships, 2019 European ...

/ Morgan Cipres. Visa and administrative delays led to uncertainty about their participation at the 2012 European Championships but the situation was resolved just before the event. Popova/Massot placed sixth in the short program and eighth overall. They were not assigned to the 2012 World Championships, but were part of the French team for the World Team Trophy. In the 2012–13 season, Popova/Massot received two Grand Prix assignments — they placed fifth at the 2012 Skate Canada International and seventh at the 2012 Trophée Eric Bompard. They were second to James/Cipres at the French Championships and then placed seventh at the 2013 European Championships. At the 2013 World Championships, James/Cipres earned two spots for France in the pairs' event at the

2014 Winter Olympics The 2014 Winter Olympics, officially called the XXII Olympic Winter Games () and commonly known as Sochi 2014 (), were an international winter multi-sport event that was held from 7 to 23 February 2014 in Sochi, Russia. Opening ro ...

Sochi Sochi ( rus, Сочи, p=ˈsotɕɪ, a=Ru-Сочи.ogg, from – ''seaside'') is the largest Resort town, resort city in Russia. The city is situated on the Sochi (river), Sochi River, along the Black Sea in the North Caucasus of Souther ...

. As France's second-ranked pair, Popova/Massot were in line to receive the second Olympic spot if she received French nationality in time. In 2013–14, Popova had a problem with the sole of one of her boots at the start of the season. She and Massot placed eighth at their first Grand Prix assignment, the

2013 Cup of China The 2013 Cup of China was the third event of six in the 2013–14 ISU Grand Prix of Figure Skating, a senior-level international invitational competition series. It was held at the Capital Indoor Stadium in Beijing on November 1–3. Medals were a ...

. Popova then ceased training for six weeks due to a stress fracture in the

third metatarsal bone The third metatarsal bone is a long bone in the foot. It is the second longest metatarsal, the longest being the second metatarsal. The third metatarsal is analogous to the third metacarpal bone in the hand Like the four other metatarsal bones, ...

of her left foot, causing the pair to withdraw from the 2013 Trophée Eric Bompard and

French Championships The French Open (), also known as Roland-Garros (), is a tennis tournament organized by the French Tennis Federation annually at Stade Roland Garros in Paris, France. It is chronologically the second of the four Grand Slam tennis events eve ...

. Having resumed training in mid-December 2013, the pair elected to reduce the difficulty of some elements for the 2014 European Championships in January. They finished 11th at Europeans in

Budapest Budapest is the Capital city, capital and List of cities and towns of Hungary, most populous city of Hungary. It is the List of cities in the European Union by population within city limits, tenth-largest city in the European Union by popul ...

. On 21 January 2014, it was reported that Popova had not received French nationality in time and France's second spot would be transferred to Austria. Popova/Massot finished 15th at the 2014 World Championships after placing 15th in both segments of the competition. After the competition, Massot left their partnership to skate with

Aliona Savchenko Aljona Savchenko (, ''Olena Valentynivna Savchenko''; German Romanization: ''Aljona Sawtschenko'', sometimes ''Aliona Savchenko''; born 19 January 1984) is a retired Ukrainian-born German pair skater. One of the most decorated pair skaters, she ...

Partnership with Novoselov

After spending a week in mid-May 2014 helping

Brian Joubert Brian Joubert (; born 20 September 1984) is a French figure skating coach and former competitor. He is the 2007 World champion, a three-time (2004, 2007 & 2009) European champion, and the 2006–07 Grand Prix Final champion. On the domestic le ...

learn pair skating in Caen, Popova flew to Moscow in search of a new partner. On July 16, 2014, she announced she would skate for France with Andrei Novoselov and said they planned to divide their training between Moscow, coached by Inna Utkina, and Paris, coached by Claude Péri. However, Popova decided to retire from competitive figure skating on July 31, 2015.

Programs

(with Massot)

Competitive highlights

With Novoselov for France

With Massot for France

References

External links

*
Club de Patinage Artistique de Caen (France)
{{DEFAULTSORT:Popova, Daria Living people Russian female pair skaters French female pair skaters 1993 births Figure skaters from Moscow Russian expatriate sportspeople in France 21st-century French sportswomen 21st-century Russian sportswomen