Nikita Katsalapov

Nikita Gennadyevich Katsalapov (Никита Геннадьевич Кацалапов; born 10 July 1991) is a Russian ice dancer.

With Victoria Sinitsina, he is 2022 Olympic silver medalist, the 2022 Olympic gold medalist in the team event, 2021 World champion, two-time European Champion (2020,2022), the 2019 World silver medalist, the 2018–19 Grand Prix Final silver medalist, and a two-time Russian national champion (2019–2020).

Katsalapov was born on 10 July 1991 in Moscow.

On 22 May 2022 Nikita proposed to his ice dancing partner Victoria Sinitsina.

On 2 October 2022 Sinitsina and Katsalapov officially became husband and wife.

Katsapalov began in single skating but struggled with some jumps and decided to try ice dancing.

He was paired with Elena Ilinykh by Irina Lobacheva and Ilia Averbukh, who were the team's first coaches.

In 2005, they attended a training camp under Alexander Zhulin who was preparing Tatiana Navka and Roman Kostomarov for their Olympic gold medal-winning season.

Despite feeling inspired, they split shortly afterward—Ilinykh said they were too young at the time to understand partnership, "We didn't understand at all that you need to talk to each other, to find a compromise. There were these foolish, stupid quarrels. It just didn't work."

Katsalapov then skated with Angelina Kabysheva until 2008.

Ilinykh/Katsalapov decided to team up again in spring 2008 after she returned to Russia.

They began training again with Alexander Zhulin in Moscow and began competing together in the 2008–09 season, placing fourth at the Russian Junior Championships.

During the 2009–10 season, Ilinykh/Katsalapov competed for the first time on the Junior Grand Prix circuit.

At their first event, the event in Budapest, Hungary, they won the gold medal.

At their second event, in Toruń, Poland, they won a second gold medal and qualified for the JGP Final.

After winning the silver medal behind Monko/Khaliavin at the Final and at the Russian Junior Championships, they moved past them to win gold at the 2010 World Junior Championships.

They were named Discovery of the Year at the 2010 Crystal Ice Awards held in October 2010 in Moscow.

For the 2010–11 season, Ilinykh/Katsalapov chose a ballet-themed free dance to Don Quixote: "[Zhulin] wanted us to do something classical Russian, and only very few people have done a real ballet program in dance."

Ilinykh's tutu was made at the Bolshoi.

They made their senior debut at the 2010 NHK Trophy where they finished fourth.

At their next event, 2010 Cup of Russia, they won the bronze medal, their first medal on the senior Grand Prix series.

At the 2011 Russian Nationals, they were second after the short dance behind Bobrova/Soloviev but placed fourth in the free dance to finish third overall behind Riazanova/Tkachenko.

However, their bronze medal was enough to earn them their first berth to the European Championships.

At the 2011 Europeans, Ilinykh/Katsalapov set new personal bests in the short dance (60.93), free dance (92.55) and combined total (153.48) to finish fourth in their debut at the event.

They were in a battle with Riazanova/Tkachenko for Russia's second of only two berths to the 2011 World Championships.

By finishing ahead of them, Ilinykh/Katsalapov won the right to make their senior Worlds debut.

They finished seventh at the event.

Following the end of the season, they ended their collaboration with Alexander Zhulin and Oleg Volkov to begin working with new coach Nikolai Morozov in May 2011.

During the off-season, they spent some time in the U.S. preparing for the 2011–12 season.

For the 2011–12 Grand Prix season, Ilinykh/Katsalapov were assigned to 2011 NHK Trophy and 2011 Trophée Eric Bompard.

At NHK Trophy, they placed first in the short dance but in the warm-up before the free dance Ilinykh crashed into the boards and injured her knee.

The couple finished the competition, winning the bronze medal, but withdrew from the exhibitions.

Ilinykh/Katsalapov then finished fourth at the 2011 Trophee Eric Bompard.

They won the silver medal at the 2012 Russian Championships.

At the 2012 European Championships, Ilinykh/Katsalapov were seventh in the short dance but set a personal best in their free dance, resulting in an overall total of 153.12 points.

They won the bronze medal at the event and then performed with Art on Ice.

Ilinykh/Katsalapov finished 5th—the highest of the three Russian teams—at the 2012 World Championships.

Their final event of the season was the 2012 World Team Trophy.

With former partner Elena Ilinykh, he is a 2014 Olympic champion in the team event, a 2014 Olympic bronze medalist in ice dancing, a three-time European medalist (silver in 2013 and 2014; bronze in 2012), and the 2010 World Junior champion.

They have also won several medals on the Grand Prix and the Challenger Series, including winning the 2018 CS Ondrej Nepela Trophy.