Alexander Samarin

Alexander Vladimirovich Samarin (Александр Владимирович Самарин; born 15 June 1998) is a retired Russian figure skater.

Alexander Vladimirovich Samarin was born on 15 June 1998 in Moscow.

Samarin began skating in 2002.

His very first coach was Lyubov Fedorchenko at the Young Pioneers Stadium.

In 2006, he switched to CSKA Moscow, where he was coached by Inna Goncharenko.

In the 2009–10 season, he won the novice event at the 2010 NRW Trophy in Dortmund, Germany, and the junior silver medal at the International Crystal Skate 2010 in Odintsovo, Russia.

In 2011–12, he withdrew from the 2012 Russian Junior Championships due to illness.

In 2012–13, Samarin underwent eye surgery because of a detached retina at the start of the season.

Debuting on the ISU Junior Grand Prix (JGP) series, he won a pair of bronze medals at JGP events in Slovenia and Germany and became the first alternate for the 2012–13 Junior Grand Prix Final.

At the Russian Championships, he finished eighth in his first senior appearance and then won the silver medal on the junior level.

He was assigned to the 2013 World Junior Championships, where he finished eighth.

In 2013–14, Samarin was assigned to one JGP event in Belarus and finished fourth.

At the 2014 Russian Championships, he placed thirteenth in seniors, landing his first triple Axel in competition in the free skate and then fourth at the junior level.

Goncharenko coached him until the end of the season.

Samarin changed coaches ahead of the 2014–15 season, joining Elena Buianova and Svetlana Sokolovskaya.

He won bronze at his first Junior Grand Prix event of the season, in Courchevel, France, and then silver in Ostrava, Czech Republic.

Making his senior international debut, he took silver in November at the 2014 Ice Challenge, an ISU Challenger Series (CS) competition in Graz, Austria, and finished eighth the following month at another CS event, the 2014 Golden Spin of Zagreb.

Nationally, he finished eleventh on the senior level and second on the junior level.

He has won three medals on the ISU Challenger Series, including gold at the 2015 CS Warsaw Cup.

Concluding his season, he placed sixth in the short, ninth in the free, and eleventh overall at the 2015 World Junior Championships in Tallinn, Estonia.

Competing in the 2015–16 JGP series, Samarin finished fourth in Slovakia and won gold in Croatia.

He appeared at two CS events, placing fourth at the 2015 Mordovian Ornament and winning the 2015 Warsaw Cup.

At Russian nationals, he ranked eighth on the senior level and won the silver medal as a junior, behind Dmitri Aliev.

He finished fourth at the 2016 World Junior Championships in Debrecen after winning a small silver medal for the short program and placing fifth in the free skate.

Competing in the 2016–17 JGP series, Samarin won gold medals in Saransk, Russia, and Tallinn, Estonia.

His medals qualified him to the 2016–17 Junior Grand Prix Final in Marseille.

He competed at the senior level and won gold at the Volvo Open Cup in November.

As a junior, Samarin won bronze at the 2017 World Junior Championships and silver at the 2016–17 Junior Grand Prix Final, in addition to three gold medals on the ISU Junior Grand Prix series.

In December, he won silver in France, having finished second to Dmitri Aliev, and then took silver at the 2017 Russian Championships, behind Mikhail Kolyada.

In January 2017, Samarin competed at the 2017 European Championships, where he placed eighth.

In March 2017, Samarin competed at the 2017 Junior Worlds, where he won the bronze medal after placing third in the short program and fourth in the free skate.

Handicapped by an injury to his right foot, Samarin was off the ice for about four months and returned to full training beginning of September.

In October 2017, Samarin made his debut at the Grand Prix series.

He won the bronze medal at the 2017 Skate Canada and placed fourth at the 2017 Internationaux de France.

In December 2017, Samarin competed at the 2018 Russian Championships, where he won the silver medal behind Mikhail Kolyada.

In January 2018, he competed at the 2018 European Championships, where he placed sixth, lower than countrymen Kolyada and Aliev.

He was consequently not named to the Russian Olympic team for the 2018 Winter Olympics, where there were only two men's spots.

Samarin underwent knee surgery in May, was back on the ice in July, and started jumping again towards the end of August.

He is the 2019 European silver medalist, the 2019 Internationaux de France silver medalist, the 2017 Skate Canada International bronze medalist, the 2018 Internationaux de France bronze medalist, and a four-time 2017 Russian national medalist (silver in 2017 and 2018, bronze in 2019, bronze in 2020).

Samarin currently holds the world record for the highest scored element in single figure skating (21.12 points for a 4Lz+3T combination at the 2019 Rostelecom Cup) since the introduction of the -5/+5 GOE system in 2018.