Benoît Richaud
French figure skater (born 1988)
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Benoît Richaud (born 16 January 1988) is a French figure skating coach, choreographer and former competitive ice dancer. He has competed at three World Junior Championships, placing as high as seventh.
Richaud in 2024 | ||||||||
| Personal information | ||||||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Born | 16 January 1988 Avignon, France | |||||||
| Home town | Avignon, France | |||||||
| Height | 1.83 m (6 ft 0 in) | |||||||
| Figure skating career | ||||||||
| Country |  France | |||||||
| Discipline | Ice dance | |||||||
| Skating club | CSG Lyon | |||||||
Medal record
| ||||||||
Competitive career
Richaud was a former student of Boucher-Zazoui (a school in Lyon). He competed for France throughout his career. His first ice dancing partner was Scarlett Rouzet.[1]
From 2005 to 2007, he skated with Élodie Brouiller. They competed at two World Junior Championships, placing 13th in 2006 and 7th in 2007. Brouiller/Richaud won two medals on the ISU Junior Grand Prix series and qualified for the JGP Final in 2006.[2] They ended their partnership in 2007.[1]
Subsequently, Richaud partnered with Canada's Terra Findlay in November 2007. During the 2008–2009 season, they placed 10th at the World Junior Championships.[3] Their partnership concluded at the end of the season.[4]
Post-competitive career
Following his retirement from competitive figure skating, Richaud has been working as a coach and choreographer in Nice.[5] In an interview in February 2024, he talked about how he assisted his students during competitions.[6] He was nominated for[6] and won the "Best Figure Skating Choreographer" at the 2024 ISU Skating awards.[7] He was also nominated in 2025.[8] In 2026, he was nominated again and won his second ISU Skating Award as "Best Figure Skating Choreographer".[9]
During each summer, he works with high level international and Olympic skaters during Richaud's self-founded Peak Ice Camps, creating and improving upon his programs for the skaters for major competitions, including the Olympic Games. He stated that his work is as a choreographer is individualised and that there is "no formula", and varies depending on each skater he works with.[10]
As a coach, his students have included:
An Xiangyi[11]
Alina Bonillo[12]
Nika Egadze[13]
Alexandra Feigin[14]
Stephen Gogolev[15]- Maxim Naumov[16]
Adam Siao Him Fa[17]- Bradie Tennell[5][18]
Skaters he has choreographed for include:
- Jeremy Abbott[19]
- An Xiangyi[11]
Olivia Bacsa[20]
Güzide Irmak Bayır[21]- Chafik Besseghier[22]
- Alina Bonillo[12]
- Anastasia Brandenburg[23]
Eliška Březinová[24]- Michal Březina[25]
Donovan Carrillo[26]- Chen Yuxuan/Dong Yinbo[27]
- Ioulia Chtchetinina/Noah Scherer[28]
- Diana Davis/Gleb Smolkin[29]
- Loïcia Demougeot/Théo Le Mercier[30]
Polina Dzsumanyijazova[31]- Nika Egadze[32]
- Alexandra Feigin[33]
- Kate Finster/Balázs Nagy[34]
Gabriele Frangipani[35]- Julie Froetscher[36]
Genrikh Gartung[37]- Stephen Gogolev[38]
Aleksandra Golovkina[39]- Anthea Gradinaru[40]
- Daniel Grassl[41][42]
- Minerva Fabienne Hase/Nikita Volodin[43]
Davide Lewton Brain[44]
Tomàs-Llorenç Guarino Sabaté[45]
Wakaba Higuchi[46]- Moa Iwano[47]
- Jin Boyang[48]
Janna Jyrkinen[49]- Livia Kaiser[50]
Jari Kessler[51]- Rika Kihira[52]
Eva-Lotta Kiibus[53]- Jessica Calalang/Brian Johnson[54]
- Gabriella Izzo[55]
Kim Chae-Yeon[56]- Kim Hyun-gyeom[57]
Marilena Kitromilis[58]- Alexa Knierim/Chris Knierim[59]
Angelīna Kučvaļska[60]
Ekaterina Kurakova[61]- Lee Hae-in[62]
- Arlet Levandi[63]
- Isabeau Levito[64]
Alla Loboda/Pavel Drozd[65]
Luc Maierhofer[66]- Maïa Mazzara[67]
- Maé-Bérénice Méité[68]
- Anastasiia Metelkina / Luka Berulava[69]
- Mai Mihara[70]
- Kao Miura[71]
- Satoko Miyahara[72]
- Andrea Montesinos Cantú[73]
- Sofia Muravieva[74]
- Lucie Mysliveckova/Lukas Csolley[75]
- Maxim Naumov[16]
Andreas Nordebäck[76]- Nobunari Oda[77]
- Başar Oktar[78]
- Oona Ounasvuori[79]
- Maria Pavlova/Alexei Sviatchenko[80]
Nina Pinzarrone[81][6]- François Pitot[82]
- Justyna Plutowska/Jérémie Flemin[83]
- Aleksa Rakic[84]
- Lilou Remeysen[85]
- Naoki Rossi[86]
- Kaori Sakamoto[70]
- Shun Sato[87]
- Aljona Savchenko/Bruno Massot[88]
Mariia Seniuk[89]- Adam Siao Him Fa[90][6]
- Lorine Schild[91]
- Noelle Streuli[92]
- Makar Suntsev[93]
- Daisuke Takahashi[72]
Denis Ten[94]- Bradie Tennell[95]
- Lindsay Thorngren[96][97]
- Ivett Tóth[98]
- Alexandra Trusova[99]
- Elizaveta Tuktamysheva[100]
- Kamila Valieva[101]
Lindsay van Zundert[102]- Deniss Vasiljevs[103]
- Wang Yihan[104]
- Sōta Yamamoto[105]
- Hana Yoshida[106]
- Yu Xiaoyu/Zhang Hao[107]
- Zhang He[108]
- Zhang Jiaxuan/Huang Yihang[109]
- Zhang Ruiyang[110]
- Zhu Yi[111]
- Emilea Zingas/Vadym Kolesnik[112]
2026 Winter Olympics
At the 2026 Winter Olympics, Richaud, described by the Associated Press as "the busiest coach/choreographer of the Milan Cortina Winter Olympics",[113] garnered media attention for coaching 16 skaters of 13 nationalities and switching team jackets for each of the skaters he supported. At those Olympics, he was the coach of Stephen Gogolev of Canada and Nika Egadze of Georgia, among others.[114][115]
Results
With Findlay
| International | |
|---|---|
| Event | 2008–09 |
| European Championships | 19th |
| International: Junior | |
| World Junior Championships | 10th |
| JGP Belarus | 3rd |
| JGP France | 4th |
| National | |
| French Championships | 3rd |
With Brouiller
| International | ||
|---|---|---|
| Event | 2005–06 | 2006–07 |
| World Junior Championships | 13th | 7th |
| JGP Final | 7th | |
| JGP Estonia | 5th | |
| JGP France | 3rd | |
| JGP Japan | 4th | |
| JGP Mexico | 2nd | |
| National | ||
| French Championships | 1st J | 2nd J |
| Masters | 2nd J | 2nd J |
| J. = Junior level | ||
