Emilea Zingas

2020–2021 season: Senior international debut

During the 2020–21 season, Zingas took advantage of her gap semester and switched nationalities to compete for Cyprus.^[4] She made her international competitive debut at the 2020 CS Budapest Trophy, where she finished seventh. Zingas later competed at 2020 Ice Star and 2020 Santa Claus Cup, where she finished fifth and second, respectively. She noted that she was grateful to have the opportunity to travel internationally during the COVID-19 pandemic, especially as she was returning to her Michigan training base between events in Europe.^[9]

At the 2021 Challenge Cup in February, Zingas won the bronze behind Belgian Loena Hendrickx and Emmy Ma of Chinese Taipei, as well as earned her technical minimums to qualify for the 2021 World Championships. She is the first Cypriot skater to ever qualify for the World Championships.^[4] During the short program at the World Championships in March, Zingas popped a planned triple Lutz into a single, and fell on the triple flip in her planned triple flip-triple toe loop combination, both of which severely impacted her score. She finished thirty-sixth in the segment and did not advance to the free skate.^[10]

2021–2022 season

After a tenth-place finish at the Skating Club of Boston's Cranberry Cup International event, Zingas was assigned to compete at the 2021 CS Nebelhorn Trophy to attempt to qualify a berth for Cyprus at the 2022 Winter Olympics. She placed ninth at the event, resulting in Cyprus being the second reserve for the Olympics. She appeared at two additional Challenger events in the fall, coming sixteenth at the 2021 CS Cup of Austria and fourteenth at the 2021 CS Warsaw Cup.^[11]

During her competitive season, Zingas was offered the opportunity to try out in ice dancing, a discipline she had no previous experience in, with reigning World Junior champion Vadym Kolesnik, whose partnership with Avonley Nguyen had ended after that gold medal win.^[12] Kolesnik would later say that "the first time I skated with Emilea I felt something special. I felt like I can be myself. She opens up in the way that I want to skate and that's how it comes out — freedom."^[13] On May 15, Zingas officially announced that the two would compete together representing the United States.^[14]

2022–2023 season: Debut of Zingas/Kolesnik

Zingas/Kolesnik made their international debut in December 2022 at 2022 CS Golden Spin of Zagreb, where they won the bronze medal.^[12]

After winning gold in November 2022 at the U.S. Ice Dance Final to qualify for the 2023 U.S. Championships, the team entered a dance field more open than normal due to presumptive national silver medalists Hawayek/Baker being absent due to health issues. Zingas/Kolesnik unexpectedly placed third in the rhythm dance, less than a point ahead of Zagreb gold medalists Carreira/Ponomarenko, who had erred on their twizzles.^[13] After the free dance, Carreira/Ponomarenko had squeaked ahead overall by 0.32, but Zingas/Kolesnik stood on the podium as pewter medalists, a noteworthy achievement in a team's first season. Kolesnik said of the new partnership "I think we've got a match."^[15]

2023–2024 season: Grand Prix and Four Continents debut

For their free dance, Zingas proposed skating to Alan Menken's Beauty and the Beast film score, which Kolesnik was persuaded of after a "watch party."^[16]

Beginning the season on the Challenger circuit, Zingas/Kolesnik finished fourth at the 2023 CS Nepela Memorial.^[17] They were invited to make their Grand Prix debut at 2023 Skate Canada International, where they placed fifth, despite a rhythm dance twizzle error.^[18][16] They were fifth as well at the 2023 Grand Prix of Espoo.^[19] Zingas/Kolesnik finished out the fall season at the 2023 CS Golden Spin of Zagreb, where they won the silver medal.^[17]

In advance of the 2024 U.S. Championships, Zingas/Kolesnik were named as first alternates for the American team for the 2024 Four Continents Championships in Shanghai.^[20]

They finished only sixth at the national championships, but were notified while driving home that national champions Chock/Bates had withdrawn from the Four Continents Championships due to illness, and they were to fly to Shanghai the following morning.^[21][22] They were fourth in both segments of the competition, coming fourth overall, 1.07 points back of bronze medalists Carreira/Ponomarenko. Zingas called the event "a great bonus."^[22]

2024–2025 season

Zingas/Kolesnik started the season by winning bronze at the 2024 CS Nebelhorn Trophy.^[17] Beginning the 2024–25 Grand Prix series at 2024 Skate Canada International, they came fourth in the rhythm dance, 1.13 points behind third-place French team Lopareva/Brissaud. Both partners received low levels on their twizzles in the free dance, and they dropped to fifth overall, which Kolesnik called "very disappointing."^[23] They followed this up by finishing fifth at the 2024 Finlandia Trophy.^[17] "We are happy though that we could finish this competition on a high note with a good free dance," said Zingas.^[24]

In January, Zingas/Kolesnik competed at the 2025 U.S. Championships, where they placed third in the rhythm dance and fourth in the free dance, finishing fourth overall.^[25] “I think we did the best we could,” said Zingas. “It was a challenging season overall, and we’ve been dealing with some things on and off the ice. I’m really proud of how we handled ourselves, and I think we’ve shown a lot of growth and more maturity from last year to this year. I’m really proud, especially with Vadym. He is a very strong person, and I’m really happy to skate with him.”^[25]

They then closed the season with a fifth-place finish at the 2025 Four Continents Championships in Seoul, South Korea.^[26][27] “I’m happy with what we’ve done today,” said Kolesnik after the free dance. “I think we just wanted to skate our best and give justice to this program because we love it. We enjoy doing it and I feel like no matter how we skated, we just wanted to enjoy this process and today I felt like we accomplished it.”^[27]

2025–2026 season: Milano Cortina Olympics, World bronze, Four Continents gold, two Grand Prix medals and U.S. national silver medal

Zingas/Kolesnik opened their season by winning silver at the 2025 CS Kinoshita Group Cup.^[26] They subsequently went on to compete on the 2025–26 Grand Prix circuit, winning their first Grand Prix medal, a silver, at the 2025 Cup of China. Both ice dancers were happy to have broken the 80-point mark in the Rhythm Dance.^[28] Speaking on the result following the event, Kolesnik shared, "I feel like I won the Olympics right now, but I'm just second at a Grand Prix. But that's how I feel. I feel so much happiness and joy inside of me right now. I can't even describe it with words. I'm just so happy that we went out there with all this pressure that we never had before."^[29]

The following month Zingas/Kolesnik won the bronze at 2025 Finlandia Trophy, qualifying for the 2025–26 Grand Prix Final. "I’m in shock! I think we’re still shaking a little," said Zingas after the free dance. "Just because before the skate, I wanted it so badly. I wasn’t thinking too much about the Final until we got here, and everybody started asking us questions about it and stuff. And I love Japan; I so much wanted to go to Japan."^[30]

In December, Zingas/Kolesnik competed at the 2025–26 Grand Prix Final where they placed sixth. “I think the crowd was amazing today,” said Zingas after the free dance. “We feel really grateful we have this opportunity. Today we did make a mistake and it’s kind of an uncharacteristic mistake for us. So, we will drill it when we get home and work to make everything the best we can and improve before the national championships."^[31]

The following month, Zingas/Kolesnik won the silver medal at the 2026 U.S. Championships behind Chock/Bates.^[32] "This is an extremely special event for us," said Zingas. "Last year at this time, we experienced some disappointment at the U.S. Championships, and honestly, I feel grateful for that moment because it taught me to know what I want and taught me how I don’t want to feel after a national championship."^[33] They were subsequently named to the 2026 Winter Olympic team.^[34][33] Less than two weeks later, Zinga/Kolesnik won gold at the 2026 Four Continents Figure Skating Championships in their third appearance at this event. "It’s been a great season; we had so much fun," Zingas summed up. "Every competition this season, I think we just tried to forget about the expectation and just skate our absolute best."^[35]

Less than two weeks later, Zingas/Kolesnik won gold at the 2026 Four Continents Figure Skating Championships in their third appearance at this event. “It’s been a great season; we had so much fun,” Zingas summed up. “Every competition this season, I think we just tried to forget about the expectation and just skate our absolute best."^[35]

Before leaving for the Winter Olympics, Kolesnik and Zingas set up a GoFundMe page to raise enough money to fly Kolesnik's family members from Ukraine to Milan, so that they could watch him and Zingas compete. The duo ultimately raised over twenty-five thousand dollars, surpassing their page's goal. As a result, Kolesnik was able to fly his aunt, Snezhana, and sister-in-law, Irina, two family members that he had not been able to see in four years due to the Russo-Ukrainian war. However, Kolesnik's mother was forced to stay behind in the U.S due to concerns of immigration policies under Trump's second administration.^[36][37][38]

On 9 February, Zingas/Kolesnik competed in the rhythm dance segment at the 2026 Winter Olympics, placing sixth in that segment and scoring a personal best.^[26] "I've never been so peaceful with myself than I am at this competition," said Kolesnik following their performance. "I don't know how to even explain this. I mean, I know it's Olympic stage, and for many people, this is the moment of their lives. I just thought of it as a test challenge for our next eight years, because this is just the beginning for us, and we're going to reach higher places. So I wanted to have good experience, and I couldn't ask for more."^[39]

Two days later, Zingas/Kolesnik placed fifth in the free dance segment, earning another personal best and finishing fifth overall. I mean, this is crazy! We’re top five at the Olympics!" said Zingas. "This is absolutely insane! If you told me one year ago today that I’d be top five at the Olympics, I would have said, ‘No, it’s a lie. It’s a straight-up lie.’"^[40][41]

The following month, Zingas/Kolesnik competed at the 2026 World Figure Skating Championships where they won the bronze in their debut at this event after earning all-new personal best scores. “My brain is still processing what’s happening,” said Zingas. “All I can say is that I’m just so full of joy, and it’s a miracle night for us. I’m so excited, and I’m so grateful to be sitting up here with these guys. It feels so real, surreal.”^[42]