Gleb Borisovich Smolkin (; , born 27 August 1999) is a Russian

ice dance 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. Ac ...

r who currently represents

Georgia Georgia most commonly refers to: * Georgia (country), a country in the South Caucasus * Georgia (U.S. state), a state in the southeastern United States Georgia may also refer to: People and fictional characters * Georgia (name), a list of pe ...

. Representing

Russia Russia, or the Russian Federation, is a country spanning Eastern Europe and North Asia. It is the list of countries and dependencies by area, largest country in the world, and extends across Time in Russia, eleven time zones, sharing Borders ...

with his partner,

Diana Davis Diana Sergeevna Davis (, ; born 16 January 2003) is an American-born Russian-Georgian ice dancer who currently represents Georgia. Representing Russia with her partner, Gleb Smolkin, she is the 2021 CS Warsaw Cup champion and the 2022 Russian ...

, he is the

2021 CS Warsaw Cup The 2021 CS Warsaw Cup was held on November 17–20 in Warsaw, Poland. It was part of the 2021–22 ISU Challenger Series. Medals were awarded in the disciplines of men's singles, women's singles, pair skating, and ice dance. Entries The Int ...

champion and the 2022 Russian national silver medalist. On the junior level, Davis/Smolkin are the 2020 Russian junior national bronze medalists, finished in the top five at the

2020 World Junior Figure Skating Championships The 2020 World Junior Figure Skating Championships were held in Tallinn, Estonia on March 2–8, 2020. Figure skaters competed for the title of junior world champion in men's singles, ladies' singles, pairs, and ice dance. The competition deter ...

, and competed at the 2019–20 Junior Grand Prix Final.

Personal life

Smolkin was born on 27 August 1999 in

Saint Petersburg Saint Petersburg, formerly known as Petrograd and later Leningrad, is the List of cities and towns in Russia by population, second-largest city in Russia after Moscow. It is situated on the Neva, River Neva, at the head of the Gulf of Finland ...

, Russia. He is the son of Russian actor and his wife Svetlana. He has one half-brother, Vladimir. As of 2022, Gleb is married to his skating partner Diana Davis. During a hiatus from figure skating in 2014, Smolkin briefly played professional

beach soccer Beach soccer, also known as beach football, sand football or sand soccer, is a variant of association football played on a beach or some form of sand between two teams of five players each. Association football has long been played informally on ...

as a member of the BSC Lokomotiv Moscow team.

Career

Early years

Smolkin began learning how to skate in 2004. He competed as a

single skater Single skating is a discipline of figure skating in which male and female skaters compete individually. Men's singles and women's singles are governed by the International Skating Union (ISU). Figure skating is the oldest winter sport contested ...

until the 2014–15 season when he took a year-long hiatus from the sport. He returned to figure skating in November 2015 to compete as an ice dancer with his first partner, Ekaterina Mironova. The team competed together until spring of 2016 before parting ways. During the 2016–17 season Smolkin teamed up with Svetlana Lizunova, but the partnership was short-lived and lasted only a season before Smolkin began competing with his current partner,

, coached by Svetlana Alexeeva and her team 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 ...

2018–19 season: Junior international debut

Davis/Smolkin made their junior international debut in September 2018 at the 2018 JGP Croatia. The team finished third overall at the event behind Russian teammates Khudaiberdieva/

Nazarov Nazarov (), or Nazarova (feminine; Назарова) is a Russian family name. The surname derives from the given name Nazar (given name), Nazar. The surname may refer to: *Alexander Nazarov (1925–1945), Soviet army officer and Hero of the Sovie ...

in first and Georgian competitors Kazakova/ Reviya in second, but despite their podium placement did not receive a second JGP assignment. The team competed three more times internationally during the season, finishing third in the junior event at the 2018

Volvo Open Cup The Volvo Open Cup is an annual international figure skating competition held in Riga, Latvia. In some years, the event is part of the ISU Challenger Series. Medals may be awarded in men's singles, women's singles, pair skating, and ice dance ...

and second at both the 2018

Tallinn Trophy The Tallinn Trophy is an annual figure skating competition sanctioned by the International Skating Union (ISU), organized and hosted in Tallinn, Estonia, by the Estonian Skating Union (). It debuted in 2002 as a regional competition before e ...

(junior) and the 2018 Russian-Chinese Youth Winter Games. At the 2019 Russian Junior Figure Skating Championships in February, they finished ninth.

2019–20 season

In the summer before the start of the season, Davis and Smolkin relocated their training base from Moscow to

Novi, Michigan Novi ( ) is a city in Oakland County, Michigan, Oakland County in the U.S. state of Michigan. A northwestern Metro Detroit, suburb of Detroit, Novi is located roughly northwest of downtown Detroit. As of the 2020 United States census, 2020 census ...

to work with

Igor Shpilband Igor Yuryevich Shpilband (, born July 14, 1964) is an American ice dancing coach and former competitor for the Soviet Union. He is the 1983 World Junior Figure Skating Championships, World Junior champion with former partner Tatiana Gladkova. P ...

and

Pasquale Camerlengo Pasquale Camerlengo (born 14 April 1966) is an Italian former competitive ice dancer who is now a coach and choreographer. With Stefania Calegari, he won gold medals at Skate America, Skate Canada, and the International de Paris, and placed fift ...

. The team opened their season in August at the 2019 JGP United States where they won the silver medal behind American training-mates

Nguyen Nguyễn (阮) (sometimes abbreviated as Ng̃) is the most common surname of the Vietnamese people. Outside of Vietnam, the surname is commonly rendered without diacritics as ''Nguyen''. By some estimates 30 to 39 percent of Vietnamese peopl ...

/ Kolesnik. At their second assignment, 2019 JGP Russia, the team again finished second overall, this time behind fellow Russian competitors Shanaeva/ Naryzhnyy, and with 26 qualifying points they advanced to the 2019–20 Junior Grand Prix Final. The team competed just once more before the Junior Grand Prix Final, taking the junior title at the 2019

. At the 2019–20 Junior Grand Prix Final, Davis/Smolkin entered the competition as the bottom seeded team and had a disappointing outing, finishing sixth in both segments of competition and sixth overall. However, they regrouped in the interim between the Final and the 2020 Russian Junior Championships and managed to earn the bronze medal at junior nationals, earning a spot on Russian team for the 2020 World Junior Championships. Competing at Junior Worlds, Davis/Smolkin scored personal bests in both segments of competition as well as overall, and finished in fifth.

2020–21 season

After Davis sustained an ankle fracture in July 2020, her long-term recovery and a subsequent illness delayed Davis/Smolkin's return to full-time training. They did not compete at the 2021 Russian Junior Championships in January, but planned to return to Russia for the Russian Cup Final in March. At the Russian Cup Final, Davis/Smolkin placed first in both the rhythm dance and the free dance to take the junior title by a margin of about 5 points over silver medalists Kaganovskaia/Angelopol. They retained their '' Aristocats'' rhythm dance from the season prior, but debuted a new free dance to selections from the soundtrack of ''

Moulin Rouge! ''Moulin Rouge!'' (, ) is a 2001 jukebox musical romantic drama film directed, produced, and co-written by Baz Luhrmann. It follows an English poet, Christian, who falls in love with the star of the Moulin Rouge, cabaret actress and courtesan ...

''.

2021–22 season: Senior international debut and Beijing Olympics

Davis/Smolkin received their first senior-level

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 to the

2021 Skate Canada International The 2021 Skate Canada International was the second event of the 2021–22 ISU Grand Prix of Figure Skating: a senior-level international invitational competition series. It was held at the Thunderbird Sports Centre in Vancouver, British Columbia ...

, which was not without controversy in Russia as both they and the Morozov/ Bagin, another team with political pull with the Russian Figure Skating Federation, received invitations, while other teams with higher rankings did not. In order to guarantee admission to Canada during the pandemic, both were vaccinated with the Pfizer–BioNTech vaccine in addition to having previously received Russia's own

Sputnik V vaccine Sputnik V (, the brand name from the Russian Direct Investment Fund or RDIF) or Gam-COVID-Vac (, the name under which it is legally registered and produced) is an adenovirus viral vector vaccine for COVID-19 developed by the Gamaleya Resear ...

. The team debuted their programs for the Olympic season at the 2021 senior Russian test skates in September. Davis/Smolkin made their senior international debut the week after test skates at the 2021 U.S. International Classic in

Norwood, Massachusetts Norwood is a town and census-designated place in Norfolk County, Massachusetts, United States. Norwood is part of the Greater Boston area. As of the 2020 census, the population was 31,611. The town was named after Norwood, England. Norwood is ...

. At the event, the team won the silver medal behind American team Hubbell/

Donohue Donohue is a surname of Irish origin abbreviated from O'Donohue (). Notable people with the surname include: * Adam Donohue (born 1990), Australian rules footballer * Charles D. Donohue (1880–1928), New York politician and judge * David Dono ...

. Going on to the Grand Prix, they placed fifth at Skate Canada International with new personal bests in both segments and overall. Following their stint on the Grand Prix circuit, Davis/Smolkin competed at back-to-back

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 ...

events in November. At the

2021 CS Cup of Austria The 2021 CS Cup of Austria by Icechallenge was held on November 11–14, 2021 in Graz, Austria. It was part of the 2021–22 ISU Challenger Series. Medals were awarded in the disciplines of men's singles, women's singles, and ice dance. Entri ...

, they finished just off the podium in fourth and set new personal bests in both segments of competition, as well as overall. Davis/Smolkin then competed at the

, where they won their first international title. They upgraded their three new personal bests previously set at Cup of Austria the week before to take the gold medal ahead of Japanese team Muramoto/

Takahashi is the third most common Japanese surname. Less common variants include , , , , , , , and . Notable people with the surname Takahashi * Aaron Takahashi, Japanese-American actor * , Japanese singer and actress * , Japanese kickboxer * , Jap ...

in second, and American team

Green Green is the color between cyan and yellow on the visible spectrum. It is evoked by light which has a dominant wavelength of roughly 495570 nm. In subtractive color systems, used in painting and color printing, it is created by a com ...

/ Parsons in third. At their first senior Russian Championships in December, Davis/Smolkin controversially placed third in the rhythm dance ahead of longtime Russian number three team Zahorski/ Guerreiro, outscoring them in the segment by over five points. In the free dance, Davis/Smolkin were able to capitalize on the withdrawal of top Russian team Sinitsina/ Katsalapov due to injury and advance to second in the segment. They took the silver medal behind new national champions Stepanova/ Bukin. Their placement was, again, not without controversy, with even bronze medalist

Egor Bazin Egor Yuryevich Bazin (, born 13 September 1995) is a retired Russian ice dancer. With his skating partner, Elizaveta Khudaiberdieva, he is the 2023 Russian champion, 2022 Russian national bronze medalist. With his former partner, Sofia Evdok ...

questioning the fairness of the scoring. As a result of their placement, Davis/Smolkin were assigned to the

2022 European Championships The 2022 European Championships were the second edition of the European Championships (multi-sport event), European Championships. It was a multi-sport event which took place in Munich, Germany from 11 to 21 August 2022. The event started three d ...

as one of three dance teams representing Russia. Davis/Smolkin made their

European Championships A European Championship is the top level international sports competition between European athletes or sports teams representing their respective countries or professional sports clubs. In the plural, the European Championships also refers t ...

debut in January 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 Estonia, officially the Republic of Estonia, is a country in Northern Europe. It is bordered to the north by the Gulf of Finland across from Finland, to the west by the Baltic Sea across from Sweden, to the south by Latvia, and to the east by Ru ...

. They placed eighth in the rhythm dance and seventh in the free dance to place seventh overall. When asked about the controversies surrounding their national placements, Smolkin remarked "after the Russian nationals, we stopped paying attention to all that. We let the redundant things go." Davis/Smolkin were officially named to the Russian team for the

2022 Winter Olympics The 2022 Winter Olympics, officially called the XXIV Olympic Winter Games () and commonly known as Beijing 2022 (2022), were an international winter multi-sport event held from 4 to 20 February 2022 in Beijing, China, and surrounding areas wit ...

on 20 January. Competing in the

dance event, they placed fourteenth in the rhythm dance. Afterward the team rebuffed queries from reporters about a burgeoning doping scandal involving

Kamila Valieva Kamila Valeryevna Valieva ( ; born 26 April 2006) is a Russian figure skater. She is the 2021 Rostelecom Cup champion, the 2021 Skate Canada champion, the 2020 Junior World champion, the 2019-20 Junior Grand Prix Final champion and the 2021 ...

, a student of Davis' mother Eteri Tutberidze. Davis/Smolkin held their standing of fourteenth place in the free dance to finish fourteenth overall in their Olympic debut.

Release from Russia and transition to representing Georgia

Davis/Smolkin, along with their Russian compatriots, were barred from international competition indefinitely by the

International Skating Union The International Skating Union (ISU) is the international sport governing body, governing body for competitive ice skating disciplines, including figure skating, synchronized skating, speed skating, and short track speed skating. It was founded ...

on 1 March 2022 due to the

2022 Russian invasion of Ukraine On 24 February 2022, , starting the largest and deadliest war in Europe since World War II, in a major escalation of the Russo-Ukrainian War, conflict between the two countries which began in 2014. The fighting has caused hundreds of thou ...

. The team chose to remain in the United States rather than return to Russia to compete domestically during the 2022–23 season, sparking rumors that they planned to transition to representing the U.S. as Davis is a dual citizen. Speculation was further fueled by the revelation that Davis and Smolkin wed on 18 March 2022, and were working towards attaining a

green card A green card, known officially as a permanent resident card, is an identity document which shows that a person has permanent residency in the United States. ("The term 'lawfully admitted for permanent residence' means the status of having been ...

for Smolkin. The team, along with

Russian Figure Skating Federation The Figure Skating Federation of Russia () is the national sport governing body for figure skating in Russia. It is recognized as such by the Russian Olympic Committee (ROC) and the International Skating Union (ISU). No individual membership exist ...

spokesperson Olga Ermolina, denied that they would discontinue representing Russia. However, this changed on 5 June 2023 when it was announced that Davis/Smolkin had been released by the Russian Figure Skating Federation and would continue their ice dance career representing

. Davis is of Georgian heritage through her maternal grandparents.

2023–24 season: Debut for Georgia

Davis/Smolkin began their career under the Georgian flag with a victory at the

Lake Placid Ice Dance International The Lake Placid Ice Dance International is an annual international ice dance competition held in Lake Placid, New York. It was first held in 1932. In 2015 and 2016, the senior event was included on the International Skating Union's calendar. The e ...

. On the Challenger circuit, they won the silver medal at the

2023 CS Nepela Memorial The 2023 CS Nepela Memorial was held on September 28–30, 2023, in Bratislava, Slovakia. It was part of the 2023–24 ISU Challenger Series. Medals were awarded in men's singles, women's singles, and ice dance. Entries The International Skatin ...

, before taking gold at both the

and the 2023 CS Denis Ten Memorial Challenge. Making their

European Championship A European Championship is the top level international sports competition between European athletes or sports teams representing their respective countries or professional sports clubs. In the plural, the European Championships also refers t ...

debut for Georgia at the 2024 edition in

Kaunas Kaunas (; ) is the second-largest city in Lithuania after Vilnius, the fourth largest List of cities in the Baltic states by population, city in the Baltic States and an important centre of Lithuanian economic, academic, and cultural life. Kaun ...

, coming eighth. They went on to finish twelfth at the 2024 World Championships.

2024–25 season

Following the end of the 2023–24 season, Davis/Smolkin switched training locations to the Ice Academy of Montreal. They had intended to begin the season at the

2024 CS Denis Ten Memorial Challenge The 2024 CS Denis Ten Memorial Challenge was held on October 3–6, 2024, in Astana, Kazakhstan. It was part of the 2024–25 ISU Challenger Series. Medals were awarded in single skating, men's singles, women's singles, and ice dance. Entries T ...

, but had to withdraw the day before it commenced when he suffered a muscle injury. As a result, they made their debut on the

circuit at the 2024 Skate America. They ranked third in the rhythm dance with a score of 73.16. Fourth in the free dance, they dropped to fourth overall, finishing 4.56 points behind Spanish bronze medalists

Smart ''SMart'' was a British CBBC television programme based on art, which began in 1994 and ended in 2009. The programme was recorded at BBC Television Centre in London. Previously it had been recorded in Studio A at Pebble Mill Studios in Birmingha ...

/ Dieck. Smolkin opined that it "was a good start into the season, and we felt good on the ice today. After yesterday, I know Diana wanted a medal, so that is of course a bit disappointing, but we are still a young team." One week later, they won silver at the

2024 CS Nepela Memorial The 2024 CS Nepela Memorial was held on October 24–26, 2024, in Bratislava, Slovakia. It was part of the 2024–25 ISU Challenger Series. Medals were awarded in men's singles, women's singles, and ice dance. Entries The International Skating ...

. They placed eighth at their second Grand Prix, the

2024 Cup of China The 2024 Cup of China was the sixth event of the 2024–25 ISU Grand Prix of Figure Skating: a senior-level international invitational competition series. It was held at the Chongqing Huaxi Culture and Sports Center in Chongqing from November 22� ...

. In December, Davis/Smolkin competed at a second Challenger, collecting their second silver medal of the season at the

2024 CS Golden Spin of Zagreb The 2024 CS Golden Spin of Zagreb was held on December 4–7, 2024, in Zagreb, Croatia. It was part of the 2024–25 ISU Challenger Series. Medals were awarded in men's singles, women's singles, pairs, and ice dance. Entries The Internationa ...

. The following month they placed eighth at the 2025 European Championships in

, Estonia. At the 2025 World Championships in

Boston, Massachusetts Boston is the capital and most populous city in the Commonwealth (U.S. state), Commonwealth of Massachusetts in the United States. The city serves as the cultural and Financial centre, financial center of New England, a region of the Northeas ...

, United States, Davis/Smolkin were fourteenth in the rhythm dance. Tenth in the free dance, they moved up to tenth overall. In the process, they qualified a berth for Georgia at the

2026 Winter Olympics The 2026 Winter Olympics (), officially the XXV Olympic Winter Games and commonly known as Milano Cortina 2026, is an upcoming international multi-sport event scheduled to take place from 6 to 22 February 2026 at sites across Lombardy and North ...

, which Smolkin said was "definitely something we're proud of." Selected to compete for Team Georgia at the 2025 World Team Trophy, Davis/Smolkin placed fifth in the ice dance event and Team Georgia finished sixth overall.

Programs

With Davis

Competitive highlights

Ice dance with Diana Davis (for Georgia)

Ice dance with Diana Davis (for Russia)

Detailed results

Ice dance with Diana Davis

For Georgia

For Russia

;Senior level ;Junior level

References

External links

*
Diana Davis & Gleb Smolkin
at SkatingScores.com (for Georgia)
Diana Davis & Gleb Smolkin
at SkatingScores.com (for Russia) * * * {{DEFAULTSORT:Smolkin, Gleb 1999 births Living people Russian male ice dancers Figure skaters from Saint Petersburg Figure skaters at the 2022 Winter Olympics Olympic figure skaters for Russia 21st-century Russian sportsmen