Alexander Smirnov

Alexander Viktorovich Smirnov (Александр Викторович Смирнов; born 11 October 1984) is a Russian retired pair skater.

They initially worked with Velikov but Kavaguti had been training with Tamara Moskvina since 1998 and preferred to stay with her.

Smirnov teamed up with Yuko Kavaguti in May 2006.

With Vasilieva they were the 2006 Russian Junior Champions and 6th at the 2006 World Junior Championships.

The couple broke up after one season together.

In May 2006, Smirnov teamed up with Japanese skater Yuko Kavaguti to compete for Russia.

He said, "We often trained at the same rink and I could see how hard she works. I thought I was a hard worker but after watching her I was really amazed by her work level."

They train at the Yubileyny Sports Palace in Saint Petersburg, Russia.

They began training with Moskvina in September 2006.

Their first Grand Prix competition was the Cup of Russia where they won the bronze medal.

They also competed at the Coupe de Nice in France and won gold.

Kavaguti dislocated her shoulder after a fall on a quad throw in 2006 and occasionally suffered recurring problems for several years after.

During practice on 25 December 2006, Kavaguti broke her ankle, forcing the pair to withdraw from the 2007 Russian Championship and the 2007 European Championship.

They competed at the 2007 World Championships in Tokyo, Japan.

This was their first worlds as a pair; and his first worlds as a senior skater.

The pair won their first Russian Championship in 2008 by winning the short and long program.

They won by 10.43 points over Mukhortova/Trankov in spite of a three-point deduction for stopping the program due to injury.

Kavaguti fell and dislocated her shoulder after a throw quadruple Salchow.

She attempted to continue the program despite the pain, however Smirnov, seeing that she had trouble raising her arm, stopped the program.

After the two-minute pause permitted by the rules, the pair completed the program and won their first national title, having completed two triple toeloops, a triple twist, and a throw triple loop.

Their first European Championships were held in Zagreb, Croatia in January 2008.

During the long program they landed the throw quad Salchow but a fall on a triple jump and planned double Axel that was turned into a single was only enough for a bronze medal.

The 2008 World Championship was held in Gothenburg, Sweden.

Kavaguti/Smirnov received a personal best short program score of 71.42 which placed them in third place.

They are two-time European champions (2010, 2015), two-time World bronze medalists (2009, 2010), two-time ISU Grand Prix Final bronze medalists (11–12 and 15–16), and three-time Russian national champions (2008–2010).

They came in 4th after the short program, 10th in the long program and 9th overall.

Kavaguti/Smirnov competed in the Cup of Russia where they once again took the bronze medal.

They won a bronze medal at Skate Canada.

At the Cup of Nice they place 1st in both the short and long program and won the gold for the second year in a row.

At their first Grand Prix Final they placed 6th in the short program after having a two-point deduction for an illegal element.

In the finals they got a one-point deduction for a fall on the throw quad Salchow and came in 5th place overall.

In 2015, they became the first pair in history to complete two quadruple throw jumps in one program and the first to land a quadruple throw loop

Alexander Smirnov began skating at the age of 3½.

His first coach was Larisa Yakovleva.

At the age of 16, Smirnov moved from Tver to St. Petersburg and switched to pair skating.

He trained with Nikolai Velikov and former pair skater Lyudmila Smirnova.

He skated with her daughter for a while, but they never competed.

At the age of 20, he teamed up with singles skater, Alexandra Danilova, who was 14 years old.

They only competed together twice in local competitions in Russia where they placed third and eighth.

He then partnered with another singles skater, Ekaterina Vasilieva.