Inga Zurabovna Gurgenidze ( Georgian: ინგა ზურაბის ასული გურგენიძე, ; born 23 April 2009), born Inga Zurabovna Nikitina, is a Russian-born Georgian

figure skater Figure skating is a sport in which individuals, pairs, or groups perform on figure skates on ice. It was the first winter sport to be included in the Olympic Games, with its introduction occurring at the 1908 Olympics in London. The Olympic d ...

who 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 ...

in women's singles. She is the 2022 JGP Italy bronze medalist, the 2022 Denis Ten Memorial junior champion, the 2022 Bosphorus Cup junior silver medalist, and the 2023 Dragon Trophy junior champion. She finished within the top ten at the 2023 World Junior Championships. She is the twenty-third woman in history to have successfully landed a triple Axel jump in competition.

Personal life

Gurgenidze was born on 23 April 2009 in

Kazan Kazan; , IPA: Help:IPA/Tatar, ɑzanis the largest city and capital city, capital of Tatarstan, Russia. The city lies at the confluence of the Volga and the Kazanka (river), Kazanka Rivers, covering an area of , with a population of over 1. ...

Tatarstan Tatarstan, officially the Republic of Tatarstan, sometimes also called Tataria, is a Republics of Russia, republic of Russia located in Eastern Europe. It is a part of the Volga Federal District; and its capital city, capital and largest city i ...

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 ...

. Part of her family is from

, including her grandmother, who she used to visit every summer as a child. She initially competed under her mother's surname, Nikitina, until the 2021–22 season when she changed it to her father's surname, Gurgenidze. In addition, she has expressed interest in learning the English and Georgian languages. Gurgenidze's figure skating idols are Julia Lipnitskaia,

Evgenia Medvedeva Evgenia Armanovna Medvedeva (alt. spelling: Yevgenia Medvedeva; rus, Евгения Армановна Медведева, p=jɪvˈɡʲenʲɪjə mʲɪˈdvʲedʲɪvə; born 19 November 1999), is a retired competitive Russian figure skater. She ...

, and

Elizaveta Tuktamysheva Elizaveta Sergeyevna Tuktamysheva ( ; rus, Елизавета Серге́евна Туктамышева, , jɪlʲɪzɐˈvʲetə tʊktɐˈmɨʂɨvə; born 17 December 1996) is a Russian figure skater. She is the 2015 World Figure Skating Cham ...

Career

Early career

Gurgenidze began figure skating in 2013 and has been coached by Liudmila Gafarova since a very young age. She competed at the 2022 Russian Junior Championships, finishing in fifteenth place.

2022–23 season

In August 2022, it was confirmed that Russian-born Gurgenidze would be representing Georgia in international competition, having never previously skated for Russia internationally. She made her international debut on the

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 ...

series. She began her season with a fourth-place finish at 2022 JGP Latvia. At her second even, the 2022 JGP Italy, Gurgenidze won the bronze medal. Gurgenidze then went on to win gold at the 2022 Denis Ten Memorial Challenge, silver at the 2022 Bosphorus Cup, and another gold at the 2023 Dragon Trophy. She finished the season at the 2023 World Junior Championships in

Calgary Calgary () is a major city in the Canadian province of Alberta. As of 2021, the city proper had a population of 1,306,784 and a metropolitan population of 1,481,806 making it the third-largest city and fifth-largest metropolitan area in C ...

Alberta Alberta is a Provinces and territories of Canada, province in Canada. It is a part of Western Canada and is one of the three Canadian Prairies, prairie provinces. Alberta is bordered by British Columbia to its west, Saskatchewan to its east, t ...

. After placing a disappointing nineteenth in the short program, Gurgenidze managed to skate a solid free program, placing seventh in that segment of the competition and finishing in ninth place overall.

2023–24 season

In her second

season, Gurgenidze came ninth at the 2023 JGP Hungary and sixth at the 2023 JGP Armenia. She successfully defended her gold medal at the 2023 Denis Ten Memorial Challenge and then won gold at the 2023 Bosphorus Cup to conclude the fall season. Gurgenidze represented Georgia in the women's event at the

2024 Winter Youth Olympics The 2024 Winter Youth Olympics (), officially known as the IV Winter Youth Olympic Games and commonly known as Gangwon 2024 (), were a Winter sports, winter multi-sport event, cultural festival, and fourth edition of the Winter Youth Olympics he ...

in Gangwon, coming fifth. At the 2024 World Junior Championships, she placed twelfth.

2024–25 season

During the off-season, Gurgenidze worked with Russian choreographer, Sergey Plishkin, on her free skate to music from the film, ''

Dancer in the Dark ''Dancer in the Dark'' is a 2000 musical psychological tragedy film written and directed by Lars von Trier. It stars Icelandic musician Björk as a factory worker who suffers from a degenerative eye condition and is saving for an operation to p ...

''. Regarding the program's concept, Gurgenidze explained that she plays a blind woman dancing in the dark and moving her soul while still unable to see. She would begin the season by competing on the 2024-25 ISU Junior Grand Prix circuit, finishing fifth at 2024 JGP Turkey. At her second junior grand prix event, 2024 JGP China, Gurgenidze's coach, Liudmila Gafarova, was unable to attend due to visa issues. Gurgenidze would place a disappointing thirteenth-place in the short program but managed to skate a solid free skate that included a clean triple axel. She would finish third in that segment of the competition and finish sixth overall. In late November, Gurgenidze would compete on the junior level at the 2024 NRW Trophy, where she took the gold medal. Finishing the season at the 2025 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 ...

, Gurgenidze placed second in the short program with a score of 67.47. She received a silver small medal for the segment. She struggled during the free skate, however, placing eleventh in that segment and dropping to sixth place overall.

Programs

Competitive highlights

''JGP:

For Georgia

For Russia

Detailed results

''Personal best highlighted in'' bold.

For Georgia

References

External links

*
Inga Gurgenidze
at SkatingScores.com {{DEFAULTSORT:Gurgenidze, Inga 2009 births Living people Figure skaters from Kazan Russian female single skaters Female single skaters from Georgia (country) Russian emigrants to Georgia (country) Figure skaters at the 2024 Winter Youth Olympics 21st-century Russian sportswomen