Sergei Voronov (figure skater)

Personal life

Sergei Evgenyevich Voronov was born in 1987 in Moscow. The International Skating Union gives October as his month of birth while the Russian skating federation lists November.

Career

Early years

Voronov began skating in 1991. He broke his collarbone two years later while skating. Voronov was coached by Rafael Arutyunyan in Moscow until 2000 when Arutyunyan moved to the U.S. Voronov decided to move to Saint Petersburg where he was coached by Galina Kashina for two years and then switched to Alexei Urmanov.

2004 to 2008

Voronov withdrew from the 2005 World Junior Championships after the qualifying round due to an injury which kept him off the ice for three months. He had placed sixth in the qualifying round.

Voronov withdrew from the 2007 Skate Canada International before the event due to a recurring foot injury. He placed fourth in the free skate at the 2008 World Championships and finished 7th overall.

2009–10 season

In the 2009–10 season, Voronov was assigned to the 2009 Cup of China, where he took bronze, and 2009 Trophée Eric Bompard, where he was sixth. He won the silver medal at the 2010 Russian national championships. Voronov was sent to Europeans but his 14th-place result led Russia to assign the country's second men's spot at the Olympics and Worlds to Russian national bronze medalist Artem Borodulin (along with Evgeni Plushenko). Plushenko's withdrawal from the 2010 World Championships due to injury allowed Voronov to be called up as a late replacement. Voronov would place 14th. This placement, along with Borodulin's withdrawal during the competition, meant Russia would have one men's berth to the 2011 World Championships. At the end of the season, he left coach Alexei Urmanov and moved back to Moscow to be coached by Nikolai Morozov.

2010–11 season

For the 2010–11 season, Voronov was assigned to the 2010 Cup of China and the 2010 Trophée Eric Bompard. He was injured during the short program at Cup of China and withdrew from the event and from Trophee Bompard. He competed at Russian Nationals where he placed 10th in the short program, 3rd in the long, and 4th overall, just 0.27 points off the podium.

2011–12 season

Voronov finished 17th at the 2012 World Championships in Nice, France. He withdrew from the 2012 World Team Trophy due to an ankle fracture which he sustained in Nice.

2012–13 season

Voronov won the bronze medal at the 2012 Cup of China, his third Grand Prix medal. He finished 7th at the 2012 NHK Trophy and won the silver medal at the 2013 Russian Championships. On 4 April 2013, Morozov confirmed that Voronov had left his group.

2013–14 season

Voronov joined Eteri Tutberidze and Sergei Dudakov. In the 2013–14 season, he won silver at his first event, the 2013 Finlandia Trophy, and finished ninth at his sole Grand Prix event, the 2013 NHK Trophy. After winning the gold medal at the 2013 Golden Spin of Zagreb, Voronov took bronze at the 2014 Russian Championships. Appearing in his sixth European Championships, he won the silver medal with a new Personal Best overall score of 252.55 points.

2014–15 season

In the 2014–15 season, Voronov's first assignment was the 2014 Rostelecom Cup; he won the silver medal, behind Spain's Javier Fernández. After taking silver at the 2014 NHK Trophy, he qualified to his first Grand Prix Final. At the Final, he was awarded the bronze medal behind gold medalist Yuzuru Hanyu and silver medalist Fernández.

Voronov won silver at the 2015 Russian Championships behind Maxim Kovtun and was sent to the 2015 European Championships, where he took bronze behind Fernandez (gold) and Kovtun (silver). With that, he ranked second in the ISU World Standings for men's singles with 3839 points, behind Yuzuru Hanyu. Voronov competed at the 2015 World Championships in Shanghai with an aggravated knee injury. He placed fourth in the short program, 17th in the long, and 13th overall.

2015–16 season

Voronov placed fifth at the 2015 Cup of China, sixth at the 2015 Rostelecom Cup, and fifth at the 2016 Russian Championships. He received no ISU Championship assignment but was invited to the 2016 Team Challenge Cup to compete as a member of Team Europe. His team finished second to North America.

Voronov changed coaches in spring 2016, joining Inna Goncharenko.

2016–17 season

In October 2016 Voronov won the gold medal at the 2016 CS Ondrej Nepela Memorial. In his Grand Prix events, he placed 4th at the 2016 Skate America and 3rd at the 2016 Cup of China.

At the 2017 Russian Championships Voronov finished 7th.

2017–18 season

Before his Grand Prix series events Voronov competed in two Challenger events. His first event was 2017 CS Ondrej Nepela Trophy where he won the silver medal behind his teammate Mikhail Kolyada. He then skated at the 2017 CS Minsk-Arena Ice Star where he won the gold medal.

In November 2017 Voronov won his first Grand Prix series gold medal when he won the 2017 NHK Trophy with a personal best score of 271.12 points. He then won the bronze medal at the 2017 Skate America. These results qualified him to the 2017–18 Grand Prix Final where he placed 4th after placing 5th in the short program and 5th in the free skate.

In December 2017 Voronov placed 4th at the 2018 Russian Championships after placing 4th in the short program and 3rd in the free skate.

2018–19 season

Voronov started his season in mid September by competing at the 2018 CS Ondrej Nepela Trophy, where he won the silver medal behind his teammate Mikhail Kolyada. In October Voronov won the bronze medal at the 2018 Skate America. In early November Voronov competed at his second Grand Prix event, the 2018 NHK Trophy. He was ranked second in both programs and won the silver medal behind Shoma Uno. With one silver medal and one bronze medal he qualified for the 2018–19 Grand Prix Final, where he finished sixth.

Voronov's season ended prematurely when an injury compelled him to withdraw from the Russian Championships.

2019–20 season

Voronov began the season with a sixth-place finish at the 2019 CS Finlandia Trophy. At his first Grand Prix assignment, the 2019 Internationaux de France, he placed sixth as well. Voronov finished fourth at the 2019 NHK Trophy, and placed ninth at the 2020 Russian Championships.

On 11 September 2020 Voronov announced his retirement from competitive figure skating.

Post-competitive career

Voronov briefly coached Evgenia Tarasova / Vladimir Morozov for the duration of the 2020–21 figure skating season. In the fall of 2021, he was invited by Oksana Ten, the then Vice President of the National Skating Federation of the Republic of Kazakhstan and mother of the late Denis Ten, to become head coach of the Kazakhstan figure skating team at the Denis Ten Academy. Among his students included Dias Jirenbayev. However, Ten and Voronov would soon receive criticism from members of the Kazakhstani skating community, including former World medalist, Elizabet Tursynbaeva, due allegedly using their power to favor the students training at the Denis Ten Academy. This accusation came after reigning national champion, Mikhail Shaidorov, who was not assigned to the 2021 CS Nebelhorn Trophy, the final qualifying event for the 2022 Winter Olympics. Voronov's student, Dias Jirenbayev, was instead assigned and placed twenty-seventh, thus failing to qualify a spot for Kazakhstani men singles skaters to compete at the Olympics. This culminated in Voronov receiving disturbing phone calls with threats on his life. Shaidorov's coach, Alexei Urmanov, would later dispute these claims, saying that it had been his and Shaidorov's decision to not send Shaidorov to any Olympic qualifying events due to him recovering from a back injury as well as physically and mentally unprepared to skate an Olympic level.

Voronov would eventually resign from his position and became the senior coach of the Belarusian national team in June 2023. After one year, however, it was announced that Voronov had returned to Moscow to coach at the Tchaikovsky Konyok Skating School.

Programs

Competitive highlights

GP: Grand Prix; CS: Challenger Series; JGP: Junior Grand Prix

Detailed results

Small medals for short and free programs awarded only at ISU Championships. At team events, medals awarded for team results only.

References

References

1. Voronov, Sergei. (September 11, 2020). "Спасибо,thank you,arigato!!! мой долгий путь,как спортсмена подошел к завершению!".
2. "Российскому наставнику сборной Казахстана угрожают смертью. Что происходит?".
3. (28 January 2022). "Оксана Тен ответила на требования тренеров покинуть пост вице-президента НФК".
4. (9 July 2024). "Сергей Воронов покинул пост старшего тренера сборной Беларуси по фигурному катанию".
5. "Competition Results: Sergei VORONOV". International Skating Union.
6. "Sergei VORONOV: 2004/2005". International Skating Union.
7. "Sergei VORONOV: 2005/2006". International Skating Union.
8. "Sergei VORONOV: 2006/2007". International Skating Union.
9. "Sergei VORONOV: 2007/2008". International Skating Union.
10. "Sergei VORONOV: 2008/2009". International Skating Union.
11. "Sergei VORONOV: 2009/2010". International Skating Union.
12. "Sergei VORONOV: 2010/2011". International Skating Union.
13. "Sergei VORONOV: 2011/2012". International Skating Union.
14. "Sergei VORONOV: 2012/2013". International Skating Union.
15. "Sergei VORONOV: 2013/2014". International Skating Union.
16. "Sergei VORONOV: 2014/2015". International Skating Union.
17. "Sergei VORONOV: 2015/2016". International Skating Union.
18. "Sergei VORONOV: 2016/2017". International Skating Union.
19. "Sergei VORONOV: 2019/2020". International Skating Union.
20. (30 January 2015). "ISU World Standings for Single & Pair Skating and Ice Dance: Men". International Skating Union.
21. link. Russian Figure Skating Federation
22. link. fskate.ru
23. "ISU World Junior Figure Skating Championships - Men Qualifying Group B". International Skating Union.
24. (9 March 2008). "Interview with Sergej Voronov (Russian Nationals/European Championships, January 2008)". figureskating-online.
25. Flade, Tatjana. (16 September 2011). "Russian Skaters Preview New Programs". IFS Magazine.
26. link. Andrei. Simonenko. rsport.ru. (9 April 2012)
27. link. Anatoly. Samokhvalov. rsport.ru. (4 April 2013)
28. link. Elena. Vaytsekhovskaya. [[Sport Express]]. (27 December 2013)
29. Flade, Tatjana. (16 October 2014). "Russia's Sergei Voronov 'not done'". Golden Skate.
30. link. Андрей. Симоненко. rsport.ru. (27 March 2015)
31. link. Наталиa. Плехановa. Team-Russia2014.ru. (25 July 2015)
32. link. Мария. Воробьева. rsport.ru. (15 August 2015)
33. link. Pigeon Post. J Sports. (17 December 2015)
34. link. Elena. Vaytsekhovskaya. [[Sport Express]]. (7 May 2016)
35. link. Мария. Селенкова. sports.ru. (15 September 2016)
36. link. Olga. Ermolina. The [[Figure Skating Federation of Russia]]. (12 July 2017)
37. (12 November 2017). "2017 NHK Trophy gala exhibition line-up and music the skaters will perform to.". International Figure Skating Magazine.
38. (2 September 2018). "Russia's Sergei Voronov: 'I choose to skate'". Golden Skate.
39. (12 December 2018). "2019 RUSSIAN CHAMPIONSHIPS". International Figure Skating Magazine.
40. Slater, Paula. (November 2, 2019). "USA's Chen defends Grand Prix title in France; earns ticket to Final". Golden Skate.
41. Flade, Tatjana. (December 27, 2019). "Aliev captures first title in turbulent men's event at Russian Nationals". Golden Skate.