Elena Ilinykh & Nikita Katsalapov | Golden Skate

Elena Ilinykh & Nikita Katsalapov

gsk8

Record Breaker
Joined
Jun 21, 2003
Country
United-States
Russian ice dancers Elena Ilinykh (Russian: Еле́на Ильины́х) and Nikita Katsalapov (Russian: Никита Кацалапов) competed together between 2008 and 2014.

Update: On 11 April 2014, Katsalapov and Victoria Sinitsina (Виктория Синицинаteamed) up, while Ilinykh teamed up with Ruslan Zhiganshin (Руслан Жиганшин).
 

sky_fly20

Match Penalty
Joined
Nov 20, 2011
I'd say after their disaster programs last season, this looks like the perfect program vehicles for the Olympics season

they have the improved programs, better lifts and skating skills and if they continue to do well throughout the season
they have a chance of sneaking a bronze medal at the Olympics
 

surimi

Onward and forward, Sota!
Record Breaker
Joined
Nov 12, 2013
This season, Ilinykh and Katsalapov are my favorite ice dance couple along with my all-time favorites Davis and White. I liked their SD and Swan Lake in NHK already, but their LD performance in TEB was the highlight of the competition for me. Stunning, intense, really drew me in. I was holding my breath throughout the dance. And not because of the drama or Ilinykh's looks or whatever I've read people assume, but because they brought the music alive and nearly every nuance of the music became a move. For me, they were the winners that day. :clap:

That said, I'm glad Ilinykh seems to have stopped miming antlers in the kiss & cry, or whatever that gesture was supposed to mean. The Black Swan looks far better without it. ;)
 

CelineSparrow

Spectator
Joined
Mar 4, 2014
I didn't hear about them until this Olympics,but their performance really resonated. And the are both really goodlooking lol, (I'm ever so slightly shallow )
 

moviechick

On the Ice
Joined
May 7, 2008
I didn't hear about them until this Olympics,but their performance really resonated. And the are both really goodlooking lol, (I'm ever so slightly shallow )

Lol yes, they're by far the best looking pair right now. She looks a lot like Mila Kunis.
 

CelineSparrow

Spectator
Joined
Mar 4, 2014
OMG yeah, and they were doing a black swan sort of thing, its incredible how well she performed her character. I completely forgot Nikita was there.
 

Scott512

Record Breaker
Joined
Feb 27, 2014
I wonder how good this team can become the next 4 years. The sky is the limit I would think. And on a side note Elena might be the best looking female figure skater since Katarina Witt. ;)
 
Joined
Feb 13, 2014
I wonder how good this team can become the next 4 years. The sky is the limit I would think. And on a side note Elena might be the best looking female figure skater since Katarina Witt. ;)

I hope they continue together for the next 4! :) I really didn't know them much prior to the last two seasons, but they're fabulous! If I'm being honest, I wasn't sure I'd really like ice dance once my favs D/W and V/M retired...but, I/K really stepped up to the plate this year.
 

OrdinaryDreamer

Rinkside
Joined
Apr 7, 2014
I became a fan after they caught my eye during this year's Olympics. I've seen a lot of Olympic figure skating performances on TV, growing up, but few really reel me in and captivate me. I kid you not, the Olympics were on TV at my local Max and Erma's, and I think Elena and Nikita had the entire audience spellbound during their first performance of their Swan Lake routine. Even the wait staff stopped to watch! The only other couple that's had that kind of an effect on me has been Tessa and Scott.

I really hope they're able to resolve the issues they're currently having, because I really don't want to see their partnership split, they have so much promise and potential! Both of them are so expressive, and it would be a shame for them to split up. If nothing else, I hope they can salvage their friendship. Their kiss-and-cry reactions were so cute, you could tell they cared deeply about each other! (My apologies, I'm still in denial over all of this.)

If they don't skate together next year, I don't know if I'll have any particular favorites in ice dance. They were the team I was going to watch out for during the next season.
 
Joined
Feb 13, 2014
If they don't skate together next year, I don't know if I'll have any particular favorites in ice dance. They were the team I was going to watch out for during the next season.

I totally feel your pain. :cry: Sadly, there aren't any other current senior teams that I find as fun/stop-what-you're-doing to watch... Granted, I/K's performances were only like that when they were really on, like Sochi. I'm hoping some of these upcoming junior moving onto senior teams will give me that same feeling.
But, it'd be nice if I/K could work things out

Elena's P&G video with her mom: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=GCEt-ZSxGBE
- Really sweet!
 

mustafakent

On the Ice
Joined
Dec 17, 2011
I love figure skating since 2006 but I just interested in ladies and men events.They were the reason I love ice dance.Creative lifts, incredible flow and speed at the twizzles, new contents every year in the programs...Definitely there was a spell between them when they are skating on the ice.They had many misfortune moments in their career but I thought finally they have beaten the bad luck at the Olympics and took the bronze.I guess this will be a brand new start for them on this long road to PyeongChang.Also they were too close but had never won the gold in Euros, and maybe even gold medal in the Worlds this year.

They will be missed.:cry:
 

Bahar

Rinkside
Joined
Nov 14, 2014
I love figure skating since 2006 but I just interested in ladies and men events.They were the reason I love ice dance.Creative lifts, incredible flow and speed at the twizzles, new contents every year in the programs...Definitely there was a spell between them when they are skating on the ice.They had many misfortune moments in their career but I thought finally they have beaten the bad luck at the Olympics and took the bronze.I guess this will be a brand new start for them on this long road to PyeongChang.Also they were too close but had never won the gold in Euros, and maybe even gold medal in the Worlds this year.

They will be missed.:cry:

I am agree with you.I loved them very much when they were together.They were really successful and their chemistry was amazing.I miss them :(
 

CaroLiza_fan

EZETTIE LATUASV IVAKMHA
Record Breaker
Joined
Oct 25, 2012
Country
Northern-Ireland
Reviving this thread to let you know that Elena and Nikita have the honour of being the faces of Olympic Figure Skating on the Eurosport Player.

Here is the picture that is being used as the cover photo on the Figure Skating page:

https://cpe-prod.eurosportstatic.com/images/photos/24421711/raw.png

And here is the thumbnail version being used on the Olympics Index:

https://cpe-prod.eurosportstatic.com/images/photos/24421911/385x216/cut.png

The irony! :drama:

Makes you sad thinking about how good they were at the Sochi Olympics, and how neither of them are at the Pyeongchang Olympics. :cry:

CaroLiza_fan
 
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