Mikhail Sergeyevich Kolyada ( rus, Михаил Сергеевич Коляда, , mʲɪxɐˈil kəlʲɪˈda; born 18 February 1995) is a Russian
figure skater. He is a 2018 Olympic silver medalist in the team event, the
2018 World bronze medalist, a two-time
European bronze medalist (
2017,
2018), the
2017 Grand Prix Final bronze medalist, a five-time
Grand Prix medalist, and a three-time
Russian national champion (2017, 2018, 2021).
Personal life
Mikhail Sergeyevich Kolyada was born on 18 February 1995 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 has three younger siblings.
He is enrolled at the
Lesgaft National State University of Physical Education, Sport and Health.
On May 20, 2019, he announced his engagement to pair skater
Daria Beklemisheva. Their wedding took place in July 2019.
Career
Early years
Kolyada began learning to skate in 2000.
Coach Valentina Chebotareva invited him to join her group after observing him at a small rink when he was five.
2011–2012 to 2012–2013
Kolyada began competing on the
ISU Junior Grand Prix (JGP) series in 2011. In 2013, he won the
Russian Junior Championships and was assigned to the
World Junior Championships where he finished 6th.
2013–2014 season
Kolyada won silver and bronze medals on the
JGP series, becoming the first alternate for the Junior Grand Prix Final. After placing sixth in the short program at the senior
Russian Championships, he withdrew from the free skate, unable to fix a problem with his boot laces.
2014–2015 season
Kolyada fractured his right ankle in August 2014, leading to two surgeries and five months off the ice.
He withdrew from the
2014 Rostelecom Cup, which would have been his
Grand Prix debut, and the
2015 Russian Championships. In March 2015, he won gold at the
Gardena Spring Trophy.
2015–2016 season
Kolyada finished third in the
Challenger Series (CS) rankings after winning silver at the
2015 Ondrej Nepela Trophy and bronze at the
2015 Ice Challenge. Skating in his first Grand Prix competition, he placed fifth at the
2015 Rostelecom Cup in November. The following month, he won the silver medal at the
Russian Championships in
Yekaterinburg
Yekaterinburg (, ; ), alternatively Romanization of Russian, romanized as Ekaterinburg and formerly known as Sverdlovsk ( ; 1924–1991), is a city and the administrative centre of Sverdlovsk Oblast and the Ural Federal District, Russia. The ci ...
.
In January 2016, Kolyada placed ninth in the short program, third in the free skate, and fifth overall at the
European Championships in
Bratislava
Bratislava (German: ''Pressburg'', Hungarian: ''Pozsony'') is the Capital city, capital and largest city of the Slovakia, Slovak Republic and the fourth largest of all List of cities and towns on the river Danube, cities on the river Danube. ...
, Slovakia. From 30 March to 1 April, he competed at the
2016 World Championships in
Boston
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 ...
. Ranked sixth in the short and fifth in the free, he finished fourth overall, just missing the bronze to China's
Boyang Jin.
2016–2017 season
To be competitive, Kolyada upgraded his technical content. He initially planned to incorporate a quad Lutz in his short and long programs but eventually decided that the consistency of the quad Lutz was too risky for the short and a clean program executed perfectly, along with his traditionally high components score, would keep him in the mix overall. He also tried adding a quad Salchow and toe loop in the free skate along with the Lutz.
Kolyada also decided in this season to add a new choreographer to his team, two-time World champion and 2006 Olympic silver medalist Stéphane Lambiel,
along with his long-time choreographer, Olga Zotova.
Kolyada placed fourth at the
2016 CS Finlandia Trophy and
2016 Rostelecom Cup. His next Grand Prix assignment was the
2016 NHK Trophy. In December 2016, he won his first
Russian national title.
At the
2017 European Championships, he won the bronze medal behind
Javier Fernández and
Maxim Kovtun. He placed fourth in the short program and third in the free skate. In the free program, he fell on a
quad Lutz, but the jump was counted as fully rotated. At the 2017 World Championships he placed seventh in the short program and ninth in the free skate, finishing 8th overall. At the 2017 World Team Trophy, he placed fourth in the short program and fifth in the free skate, with Team Russia finishing second place overall. In the free skate and attempted a quad Lutz but fell on the landing, although the jump was counted as fully rotated.
2017–2018 season
Kolyada started his season with a gold medal at the
2017 CS Ondrej Nepela Trophy after ranking 10th in the short program and first in the free skate. In the free skate, he landed his first quad lutz in international competition. He placed fourth at the
2017 CS Finlandia Trophy and won the bronze medal at the
2017 Rostelecom Cup, and later the gold medal at the
2017 Cup of China, qualifying him for the
Grand Prix Final.
He then had his biggest achievement yet, finishing third at the
Grand Prix Final. The following month, he won his second consecutive Russian figure skating title and, despite errors, won bronze for the second consecutive year at the
2018 European Championships.
At the
2018 Winter Olympics
The 2018 Winter Olympics (), officially the XXIII Olympic Winter Games (; ) and also known as PyeongChang 2018 (), were an international winter multi-sport event held between 9 and 25 February 2018 in Pyeongchang County, South Ko ...
, Kolyada was part of the
Olympic Athletes from Russia team in the
team event. He performed poorly in the short program, falling on both quadruple jump attempts and singling his triple Axel, placing eighth overall. He placed second in the free skate. Team Russia won the silver medal overall.
In the
men's individual event, he placed eighth.
Kolyada won the bronze medal at the
2018 World Championships in
Milan
Milan ( , , ; ) is a city in northern Italy, regional capital of Lombardy, the largest city in Italy by urban area and the List of cities in Italy, second-most-populous city proper in Italy after Rome. The city proper has a population of nea ...
, Italy, being second after the short, but dropping to third after errors in the long.
2018–2019 season
Over the summer, Kolyada suffered from
sinusitis, which would continue to plague him throughout the fall.
He started his season by competing in two
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 mid-September, he won the gold medal at the
2018 CS Ondrej Nepela Trophy, and in early October, he won another gold medal at the
2018 CS Finlandia Trophy. At both events, Kolyada ranked first in both the short program and the free skate. In early November, he placed fourth at the
2018 Grand Prix of Helsinki. Two weeks later, he placed fourth again at the
2018 Rostelecom Cup. In early December, Kolyada competed at the
2018 CS Golden Spin of Zagreb, where he won the silver medal after placing first in the short program and second in the free skate.
Kolyada's sinusitis immediately became serious before the
2019 Russian Championships, leading to his hospitalization and his participation at nationals being uncertain until days prior. Competing in less than top form, he nevertheless won the silver medal, placing second in the short program and third in the free skate.
The
European Championships initially went well for Kolyada, with a clean short program earning a personal best score of 100.49 and first place going into the free skate, over eight points ahead of second-place finisher
Alexander Samarin.
He fell four times in the free program, placing eleventh there, and fifth overall.
At the
2019 World Championships in Saitama, Kolyada placed tenth in the short program after failing to execute his planned quad.
He rose to sixth in the free and sixth overall with a program with only minor errors, saying, "there were some little technical issues, but overall, I am pleased with how I did. The audience was very supportive, and I felt that."
2019–2020 season
In early October, Kolyada announced that a recurrence of his sinusitis would cause him to miss at least the first half of the season. Coach
Valentina Chebotareva expressed the hope that he would be able to return for the
2020 Russian Championships, but ultimately this was not possible.
Kolyada resumed training in early January 2020.
In June 2020, it was announced that Kolyada had left his longtime coach Chebotareva to train with
Alexei Mishin, the coach of Olympic champions
Alexei Urmanov and
Evgeni Plushenko.
2020–2021 season
Kolyada debuted his new programs at the senior Russian test skates, where his appearance was widely praised as a highlight of the event, with particular emphasis on his free program tribute to legendary
ballet
Ballet () is a type of performance dance that originated during the Italian Renaissance in the fifteenth century and later developed into a concert dance form in France and Russia. It has since become a widespread and highly technical form of ...
dancer
Rudolf Nureyev. Kolyada performed only quad toe loops at the event but indicated that he was planning to reintroduce the quad Lutz and Salchow in the future.
He next competed at the third stage of the domestic Cup of Russia series, winning the gold medal.
With the
COVID-19 pandemic
The COVID-19 pandemic (also known as the coronavirus pandemic and COVID pandemic), caused by severe acute respiratory syndrome coronavirus 2 (SARS-CoV-2), began with an disease outbreak, outbreak of COVID-19 in Wuhan, China, in December ...
continuing to affect international travel, the
Grand Prix was designed primarily around geographic location, and Kolyada was assigned to the
2020 Rostelecom Cup. He placed third in the short program after two minor jump errors.
He won the free skate by a wide margin to take the gold medal, his second Grand Prix win.
On December 3, it was announced that Kolyada had to withdraw from the fifth stage of the Cup of Russia series after training mate
Elizaveta Tuktamysheva contracted
COVID-19
Coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19) is a contagious disease caused by the coronavirus SARS-CoV-2. In January 2020, the disease spread worldwide, resulting in the COVID-19 pandemic.
The symptoms of COVID‑19 can vary but often include fever ...
.
He was ill afterward, though not with the coronavirus, and was able to compete at the
2021 Russian Championships, winning the short program by four points over
Makar Ignatov.
He won the free skate by almost twenty-five points, reclaiming the Russian title, which he contrasted with his previous wins by saying "this is one of the most meaningful as after a long break it is always hard as well as interesting to come back." He was assigned to the Russian team for the
2021 World Championships in
Stockholm
Stockholm (; ) is the Capital city, capital and List of urban areas in Sweden by population, most populous city of Sweden, as well as the List of urban areas in the Nordic countries, largest urban area in the Nordic countries. Approximately ...
.
Following the national championships, Kolyada participated in the
2021 Channel One Trophy, a televised team competition organized in lieu of the cancelled
European Championships. Kolyada was selected for the Time of Firsts team captained by
Evgenia Medvedeva. He placed first in the short program and then second in the free skate. In the free, he reintroduced the quad Salchow into competition, landing it with a step out. The Time of Firsts team finished in second place.
Kolyada opted not to participate in the Russian Cup Final, instead competing at the
2021 Challenge Cup in
the Netherlands and winning the gold medal.
Competing at the World Championships, Kolyada placed fourth in the short program after having to execute turns in the middle of his jump combination.
In the free skate, he fell on his second triple Axel attempt and had minor errors on two other jumps, but he placed fifth in that segment and took fifth place overall. Kolyada stated that despite the errors, he liked "the program very much, and we'll think about the next season. Alexei Mishin is a very wise mentor, and I trust him completely."
Kolyada's placement alongside the eighth-place finish of training mate
Evgeni Semenenko qualified two berths for Russian men at the
2022 Winter Olympics, and the possibility of a third.
Kolyada was subsequently announced as part of the Russian team for the
2021 World Team Trophy.
Kolyada placed fifth in the short program and third in the free skate, while Team Russia won the gold medal.
2021–2022 season
Kolyada collaborated with
Ilia Averbukh on his short program, initially debuting one making use of
Luciano Pavarotti's "
Caruso" at the Russian test skates. They subsequently changed this to
Tchaikovsky's ''
The Nutcracker
''The Nutcracker'' (, ), Opus number, Op. 71, is an 1892 two-act classical ballet (conceived as a '; ) by Pyotr Ilyich Tchaikovsky, set on Christmas Eve at the foot of a Christmas tree in a child's imagination featuring a Nutcracker doll. Th ...
'', in a stylistic homage to the Russian ballet dancer
Mikhail Baryshnikov.
Despite the acclaim for his Nureyev free program from the previous season, he opted against reprising it, instead choosing
John Williams
John Towner Williams (born February 8, 1932)Nylund, Rob (November 15, 2022)Classic Connection review, ''WBOI'' ("For the second time this year, the Fort Wayne Philharmonic honored American composer, conductor, and arranger John Williams, who w ...
' soundtrack to ''
Schindler's List''.
Appearing at his first
Challenger event since 2018, Kolyada won the silver medal at the
2021 CS Finlandia Trophy.
Kolyada was originally assigned to the
2021 Cup of China as his first
Grand Prix assignment, but following that event's cancellation, he was instead reassigned to the
2021 Gran Premio d'Italia 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 ...
.
Despite a fall on his quad toe attempt, he was fourth in the short program, 5.59 points behind
Jin Boyang in first place. A new personal best in the free skate moved him up to second place while the skaters ahead of him struggled, but he was himself overtaken by
Yuma Kagiyama, who won the gold medal.
In his own assessment afterward, he said, "not everything was clean, so I will continue to work hard. I feel that I have started to skate with more confidence, and we will see what happens at the next competition. My coach said we are moving in the right direction, and I believe him."
Kolyada struggled in the short program at the
2021 Rostelecom Cup, nevertheless finishing in fourth place due to inconsistent performances from other competitors. He won the free skate despite errors and finished with another silver medal, qualifying for Grand Prix Final for the second time in his career.
His coach, Alexei Mishin, later announced that Kolyada would be returning to his Nureyev free program. The
Grand Prix Final was subsequently cancelled due to restrictions prompted by the
Omicron variant.
The perceived frontrunner heading into the
2022 Russian Championships, Kolyada placed fifth in the short program after singling his planned triple Axel. He won the free skate despite popping two jumps, finishing with the silver medal. He said he had "mixed feelings" about the event. He spoke about returning to his Nureyev program, "I didn't do everything, but it’s the motivation to work more. I haven't skated this program for a while, and I had to remember all emotions again."
Kolyada was assigned to the
2022 European Championships but withdrew due to a training injury and was replaced by
Andrei Mozalev.
On January 20, Kolyada was officially named to the
Russian Olympic team.
On the 25th, it was announced he had to withdraw from the competition due to a positive COVID-19 test.
Programs
Competitive highlights
''GP:
Grand Prix; CS:
Challenger Series; JGP:
Junior Grand Prix''
Detailed results
Senior level

''Small medals for short and free programs awarded only at
ISU Championships.''
ISU Personal Bests highlighted in bold.
Junior level
References
External links
*
*
{{DEFAULTSORT:Kolyada, Mikhail
1995 births
Russian male single skaters
World Figure Skating Championships medalists
European Figure Skating Championships medalists
Living people
Figure skaters from Saint Petersburg
Figure skaters at the 2018 Winter Olympics
Olympic figure skaters for Russia
Medalists at the 2018 Winter Olympics
Olympic medalists in figure skating
Olympic silver medalists for Olympic Athletes from Russia
21st-century Russian sportsmen