Maxim Kovtun

Maxim Pavlovich Kovtun (Максим Павлович Ковтун; born 18 June 1995) is a retired Russian figure skater.

Maxim Pavlovich Kovtun was born 18 June 1995 in Yekaterinburg.

His two older brothers formerly competed in figure skating and his father, Pavel, is a skating coach and former pair skater.

In the spring of 2011, Kovtun began training with Nikolai Morozov.

He debuted on the ISU Junior Grand Prix (JGP) circuit in the 2011–12 season, winning gold at his first event in Romania and then silver in Estonia.

He qualified for the 2011–12 JGP Final where he finished fourth.

On the junior level, he is the 2012 JGP Final champion.

Kovtun has successfully landed two quad jumps in a short program, and three quads in a free program.

At the 2012 Russian Championships, Kovtun finished twelfth on the senior level and won the bronze medal on the junior level.

He was assigned to the 2012 World Team Trophy—his first senior international event—following Sergei Voronov's injury-related withdrawal.

He finished twelfth at the event.

In the summer of 2012, Kovtun switched coaches to Elena Buianova (Vodorezova).

He began the 2012–13 season by winning a pair of gold medals at JGP events in Croatia and Germany.

In Croatia, he scored a personal best 80.00 points in free skating TES.

Kovtun qualified for the JGP Final in Sochi, Russia, where he won gold by eleven points over silver medalist Joshua Farris.

At the event, he scored 149.78 points for his free skate which included a 4T-3T, 3A-3T and 3A.

Kovtun said he would try two quads in his free program at the 2013 Russian Championships.

Although he finished fifth on the senior level, he was named in the Russian team to the 2013 European Championships because Russian regulations guaranteed berths only to the top two finishers while a committee had the right to choose the third entry.

In his European debut, Kovtun placed seventh in the short program, fourth in the free skate, and fifth overall with a total score of 226.57 points.

In the free skate, his fourth combination (3S-2T) was deemed invalid.

Kovtun finished seventeenth in his first World Championships, held in London, Ontario, Canada.

He was eighth in the men's event at the 2013 World Team Trophy and Team Russia finished fourth.

Kovtun found his short program for the 2013–14 season very challenging, stating, "When we [began training the program], it was just hell. [...] I needed half an hour to learn one step, so it took a very long time to put this all together."

He made his senior Grand Prix debut at the 2013 Cup of China.

He placed second in the short—landing a 4S-3T, 4T and 3A—and first in the free skate, in which he landed a 4S, 4S-2T, 3A-2T and 3A.

Kovtun won the silver medal overall behind China's Han Yan.

He won another silver medal at the 2013 Rostelecom Cup.

The results qualified him to his first senior Grand Prix Final.

He finished fifth at the event in Fukuoka, Japan.

At the 2014 Russian Championships, Kovtun placed second in the short program and first in the free skate.

He was awarded the gold medal ahead of three-time Olympic medalist Evgeni Plushenko.

After Kovtun again placed fifth at the European Championships, Russia's sole spot in the men's event at the 2014 Winter Olympics in Sochi was assigned to Plushenko.

Kovtun was sent to the 2014 World Championships in Saitama, Japan.

He placed seventh in the short program, fifth in the free skate, and finished fourth overall behind Spain's Javier Fernández.

He is a three-time European medalist (silver in 2015 and 2017, bronze in 2016) and four-time (2014, 2015, 2016, 2019) Russian national champion.

He was in a relationship with a gymnast Chilita Bagdzhi from 2015 until 2016.

On 23 April 2019, Kovtun announced his retirement from competition.

He has been dating a Russian group rhythmic gymnast Evgeniia Levanova since 2019.

Taken to the ice rink by his father, Kovtun began skating at age four in Yekaterinburg and was coached mainly by Maria Voitsekhovskaia in his early years.

He also trained in ice hockey but chose skating at age ten.