Maria Vladimirovna Mukhortova (; born 20 November 1985) is a Russian pair skater. With former partner Maxim Trankov, she is the 2008 European silver medalist, a five-time Grand Prix medalist (including one gold medal at Trophée Eric Bompard), 2005 World Junior champion, 2004 Junior Grand Prix Final champion, and 2007 Russian national champion. In her early career, she competed with Egor Golovkin and Pavel Lebedev. She also competed one season with Jérôme Blanchard.

Personal life

Mukhortova was born 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 ...

but began skating in her father's hometown of

Lipetsk Lipetsk (, ), also Romanization of Russian, romanized as Lipeck, is a types of inhabited localities in Russia, city and the administrative center of Lipetsk Oblast, Russia, located on the banks of the Voronezh (river), Voronezh River in the Do ...

when she was 6 years old. She became attracted to pair skating, however, there were no related opportunities in Lipetsk so her mother took her back to Saint Petersburg when she was thirteen.

Career

Early career

Mukhortova and Maxim Trankov trained in the same practice group under coaches Ludmila Velikova and Nikolai Velikov, but with different partners. Mukhortova first competed with Pavel Lebedev during the 2001–02 and the 2002–03 season, skating with him on the

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 ...

and finishing fourth at the

2002 The effects of the September 11 attacks of the previous year had a significant impact on the affairs of 2002. The war on terror was a major political focus. Without settled international law, several nations engaged in anti-terror operation ...

and 2003 World Junior Championships. The pair had frequent arguments but due to good results, Mukhortova initially declined to switch partners, however, a year later in 2003, she accepted Trankov's suggestion to skate together.

Partnership with Trankov

In their first season together, they won the bronze medal at the Junior Grand Prix Final and the 2004 World Junior Championships. The following season, they competed on both the Grand Prix and Junior Grand Prix and won the 2005 World Junior Championships. In the 2005–06 Olympic season, they were assigned to the 2006 World Championships after Tatiana Totmianina / Maxim Marinin withdrew. They placed 12th in their debut at the event. After the 2005–06 season, Mukhortova and Trankov switched coaches to Tamara Moskvina. In August 2006, Artur Dmitriev became their coach and in December 2006 they moved to Oleg Vasiliev. In the 2006–07 season, Mukhortova and Trankov won the 2007 Russian Nationals, but were forced to miss the

Europeans Europeans are the focus of European ethnology, the field of anthropology related to the various ethnic groups that reside in the states of Europe. Groups may be defined by common ancestry, language, faith, historical continuity, etc. There are ...

after she suffered an injury in practice. They returned in time for the 2007 Worlds, moving up one place to 11th. The following season, they won the silver medal at the 2008 Europeans and finished 7th at the 2008 Worlds. They had to take a short break in the middle of their long program at Worlds because Trankov was suffering from swelling in his arm, but returned to complete their skate after some alterations to his costume. In the 2008-09 season, Mukhortova and Trankov qualified for their first Grand Prix Final, won a bronze medal at the 2009 European Championships, and moved up to 5th place at the World Championships. For the 2009-10 season, the pair was assigned to the

2009 Trophée Eric Bompard 9 (nine) is the natural number following and preceding . Evolution of the Hindu–Arabic digit Circa 300 BC, as part of the Brahmi numerals, various Indians wrote a digit 9 similar in shape to the modern closing question mark without the bot ...

, where they set a new overall personal best score and defeated two-time world champions Aliona Savchenko & Robin Szolkowy. Their second Grand Prix event was the 2009 Skate Canada where they placed second. They won another bronze medal at the 2010 European Championships but finished a disappointing seventh at the 2010 Winter Olympic Games. At the 2010 World Championships held in

Turin Turin ( , ; ; , then ) is a city and an important business and cultural centre in northern Italy. It is the capital city of Piedmont and of the Metropolitan City of Turin, and was the first Italian capital from 1861 to 1865. The city is main ...

Italy Italy, officially the Italian Republic, is a country in Southern Europe, Southern and Western Europe, Western Europe. It consists of Italian Peninsula, a peninsula that extends into the Mediterranean Sea, with the Alps on its northern land b ...

, in March 2010 they finished in 4th place. Shortly thereafter, the pair ended their partnership.

Partnership with Blanchard

In May 2010, it was announced that she had teamed up with Jérôme Blanchard to compete for Russia. At the 2011 Russian Championships, they finished 7th overall. In February 2011, their coach Oleg Vasiliev said they had taken some time off due to funding issues. On March 4, Vasiliev confirmed their partnership had ended; Mukhortova would consider competing with a new partner or move into show skating. Mukhortova joined the Russian Ice Stars in 2011.

Programs

With Blanchard

With Trankov

With Lebedev

Results

With Blanchard

With Trankov

With Lebedev

References

External links

* * * {{DEFAULTSORT:Mukhortova, Maria Russian female pair skaters 1985 births Living people Figure skaters from Saint Petersburg Olympic figure skaters for Russia Figure skaters at the 2010 Winter Olympics European Figure Skating Championships medalists World Junior Figure Skating Championships medalists Winter World University Games medalists in figure skating FISU World University Games silver medalists for Russia FISU World University Games bronze medalists for Russia Medalists at the 2003 Winter Universiade Competitors at the 2005 Winter Universiade 21st-century Russian sportswomen