Mikhail Kolyada

Mikhail Sergeyevich Kolyada (Михаил Сергеевич Коляда; born 18 February 1995) is a Russian figure skater.

Mikhail Sergeyevich Kolyada was born on 18 February 1995 in Saint Petersburg, Russia.

He has three younger siblings.

He is enrolled at the Lesgaft National State University of Physical Education, Sport and Health.

Kolyada began learning to skate in 2000.

Coach Valentina Chebotareva invited him to join her group after observing him at a small rink when he was five.

Kolyada also decided in this season to add a new choreographer to his team, two-time World champion and 2006 Olympic silver medalist Stéphane Lambiel, along with his long-time choreographer, Olga Zotova.

Kolyada began competing on the ISU Junior Grand Prix (JGP) series in 2011.

In 2013, he won the Russian Junior Championships and was assigned to the World Junior Championships where he finished 6th.

Kolyada won silver and bronze medals on the JGP series, becoming the first alternate for the Junior Grand Prix Final.

After placing sixth in the short program at the senior Russian Championships, he withdrew from the free skate, unable to fix a problem with his boot laces.

Kolyada fractured his right ankle in August 2014, leading to two surgeries and five months off the ice.

He withdrew from the 2014 Rostelecom Cup, which would have been his Grand Prix debut, and the 2015 Russian Championships.

In March 2015, he won gold at the Gardena Spring Trophy.

Kolyada finished third in the Challenger Series (CS) rankings after winning silver at the 2015 Ondrej Nepela Trophy and bronze at the 2015 Ice Challenge.

Skating in his first Grand Prix competition, he placed fifth at the 2015 Rostelecom Cup in November.

The following month, he won the silver medal at the Russian Championships in Yekaterinburg.

In January 2016, Kolyada placed ninth in the short program, third in the free skate, and fifth overall at the European Championships in Bratislava, Slovakia.

From 30 March to 1 April, he competed at the 2016 World Championships in Boston.

Ranked sixth in the short and fifth in the free, he finished fourth overall, just missing the bronze to China's Boyang Jin.

To be competitive, Kolyada upgraded his technical content.

He initially planned to incorporate a quad Lutz in his short and long programs but eventually decided that the consistency of the quad Lutz was too risky for the short and a clean program executed perfectly, along with his traditionally high components score, would keep him in the mix overall.

He also tried adding a quad Salchow and toe loop in the free skate along with the Lutz.

Kolyada placed fourth at the 2016 CS Finlandia Trophy and 2016 Rostelecom Cup.

His next Grand Prix assignment was the 2016 NHK Trophy.

In December 2016, he won his first Russian national title.

At the 2017 European Championships, he won the bronze medal behind Javier Fernández and Maxim Kovtun.

He placed fourth in the short program and third in the free skate.

In the free program, he fell on a quad Lutz, but the jump was counted as fully rotated.

At the 2017 World Championships he placed seventh in the short program and ninth in the free skate, finishing 8th overall.

At the 2017 World Team Trophy, he placed fourth in the short program and fifth in the free skate, with Team Russia finishing second place overall.

In the free skate and attempted a quad Lutz but fell on the landing, although the jump was counted as fully rotated.

Kolyada started his season with a gold medal at the 2017 CS Ondrej Nepela Trophy after ranking 10th in the short program and first in the free skate.

In the free skate, he landed his first quad lutz in international competition.

He placed fourth at the 2017 CS Finlandia Trophy and won the bronze medal at the 2017 Rostelecom Cup, and later the gold medal at the 2017 Cup of China, qualifying him for the Grand Prix Final.

He then had his biggest achievement yet, finishing third at the Grand Prix Final.

He is a 2018 Olympic silver medalist in the team event, the 2018 World bronze medalist, a two-time European bronze medalist (2017, 2018), the 2017 Grand Prix Final bronze medalist, a five-time Grand Prix medalist, and a three-time Russian national champion (2017, 2018, 2021).

The following month, he won his second consecutive Russian figure skating title and, despite errors, won bronze for the second consecutive year at the 2018 European Championships.

On May 20, 2019, he announced his engagement to pair skater Daria Beklemisheva.

Their wedding took place in July 2019.