Nikolai Ugozhaev
Russian figure skater
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Nikolai Mikhailovich Ugozhaev (Russian: Николай Михайлович Угожаев, born 15 June 2006) is a Russian figure skater who currently competes as an Individual Neutral Athlete. He is the 2024 Cup of Russia stage in Krasnoyarsk champion,[1] 2025 Russian Jumping Championship[2] champion, 2022 Russian Junior Championship silver medalist,[3] 2024 Final Cup of Russia juniors bronze medalist.[4]
| Personal information | |
|---|---|
| Native name | Николай Михайлович Угожаев |
| Full name | Nikolai Mikhaillovich Ugozhaev |
| Born | 15 June 2006 |
| Height | 1.83 m (6 ft 0 in) |
| Figure skating career | |
| Country |  Individual Neutral Athlete (since 2026)  Russia (until 2025) |
| Discipline | Men's singles |
| Coach | Dmitri Khromin |
| Skating club | FS Sport Club of Tamara Moskvina, St. Petersburg |
| Began skating | 2010 |
Personal life
Ugozhaev was born on 15 June 2006 in Novosibirsk, Russia. His grandfather, Vladimir Ugozhaev, is a physicist.[5] He invented rotationally tunable double-beam interferometer.[6]
Nikolai's height is 183 cm.[7]
Career
Early years
Ugozhaev started figure skating at the age of 4.[8] His first coach was Marina Yazovtseva.[5] At the age of 10, Nikolai moved to St. Petersburg.[8] Veronika Daineko became his coach at the skating club Star Ice. In 2017, Ugozhaev and Daineko moved to FS Sport Club of Tamara Moskvina. Later, Ugozhaev moved to coach Dmitri Khromin at the same club.[5]
2018–2019 season
In the 2018–19 season, Ugozhaev made his debut at the Russian Junior Cup stages and took 6th and 9th places.[9][10] This result did not allow to qualify for the Russian Junior Championship and the Russian Junior Cup Final.
2019–2020 season
Ugozhaev started his season with a silver medal at the Russian Junior Cup stage.[11] At this tournament he landed combination Triple Axel - Triple Toe Loop.[12] But he missed the rest of the season.
2020–2021 season
In the 2020–21 season, Ugozhaev won the Russian Junior Cup stage for the first time.[13] At another stage, he won a bronze medal and qualified for the Russian Junior Championship and the Russian Junior Cup Final.[14] At his debut Russian Junior Championship, Ugozhaev took 5th place.[15] At the Russian Junior Cup Final, Ugozhaev won a bronze medal. He was leading after the short program, but finished fourth in the free skate and dropped to third in the final standings.[16]
2021–2022 season
In the first part of the season, Ugozhaev won gold and silver at the Russian Junior Cup stages.[17][18] He also made his international debut, finishing 4th at the Denis Ten Memorial Challenge among juniors. In February 2022, Nikolai won the Jégvirág Cup among juniors. At the Russian Junior Championships, Ugozhaev won a silver medal.[3] But after that he performed poorly at the Russian Junior Cup Final and took only 11th place.[19]
2022–2023 season
In the 2022–23 season, Nikolai won silver and bronze at the Russian Junior Cup stages.[20][21] At the Russian Junior Championships, Ugozhaev took 6th place and landed a Quad Toe Loop.[22][23] At the Russian Junior Cup Final, he took 5th place and landed Quad Lutz.[24][25]
2023–2024 season
This season was Ugozhaev's last at the junior level. Nikolai won his first stage of the Russian Junior Cup in the 2023–24 season and landed Quad Flip.[26][27] At another stage he won silver.[28] 10th place at the Russian Junior Championships was the worst result in Ugozhaev's career. He was in 2nd place after the short program, but only finished 15th in the free skate.[29] But at the Russian Junior Cup Final, Nikolai landed Quad Lutz, Quad Flip and two Triple Axels in his free program and won bronze with a score of 270.03 points.[4][30]
2024–2025 season
The first tournament of the season for Ugozhaev was the St. Petersburg Cup stage. He won gold and also landed two quads in the short program and three quads in the free skate.[31][32][33] At the Panin-Kolomenkin Memorial, Nikolai landed cleanly 4 out of 5 quads in two programs and 1 quad landed with a small mistake, but did the other elements better, including three Triple Axels, and scored 303.45 points. In the free program, he landed three different quads, Toe Loop, Lutz and Flip for the first time.[34][35][36] At the debut stage of the Russian Сup at the senior level, Ugozhaev took 5th place.[37] After that, Nikolai won his second stage of the Russian Cup, scoring 292.56 points.[1]
Ugozhaev performed poorly at his debut Russian Championship, made many mistakes and finished in 14th place.[38] But then he won the Russian Jumping Championship, beating Vladislav Dikidzhi, Evgeni Semenenko, Mark Kondratiuk, Petr Gumennik and other figure skaters from the Russian national team.[2] At the Russian Cup final, Ugozhaev took 7th place.[39]
2025–2026 season
Ugozhaev placed 10th at the 2026 Russian Championships.[40]
2026–2027 season
On 30 June 2026, the International Skating Union announced that figure skaters from Russia and Belarus would be allowed to compete at international competitions as Individual Neutral Athletes (AINs).[41] Each of these skaters are be required to undergo an individual assessment conducted by the ISU Council to determine whether they meet the criteria for neutral status. Ugozhaev's application was approved, making him eligible to compete internationally as a neutral athlete.[42][43]
Programs
| Short Program | Free skating | |
|---|---|---|
| 2024–2025[44] |
by Linkin Park, 2WEI |
choreo. by Nikolai Moroshkin |
| 2023–2024[45][46] |
by Benjamin Clementine | |
| 2022–2023[47][48] |
by Sting |
by Gidon Kremer |
| 2021–2022[49][50] |
by Woodkid |
|
| 2020–2021[51][52] | ||
| 2019-2020[53] |
| |
| 2018–2019[54] | ||
| 2017–2018 | ||
| 2016–2017[55][56] |
|
|
Competitive highlights
| International: Junior | ||||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Event | 20–21 | 21–22 | 22–23 | 23–24 | 24–25 | 25–26 |
| Denis Ten Memorial Challenge | 4th | |||||
| Jégvirág Cup | 1st | |||||
| Russian–Chinese Winter Youth Games | 3rd | |||||
| National | ||||||
| Russian Champ. | 14th | 10th | ||||
| Russian Junior | 5th | 2nd | 6th | 10th | ||
| Russian Cup Final[note 1] | 7th | |||||
| Russian Cup Junior Final[note 1] | 3rd | 11th | 5th | 3rd | ||
Detailed results
Senior
| 2024–2025 season | ||||
| Date | Event | SP | FS | Total |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 14–16 February 2025 | 2025 Russian Grand Prix Final | 7
91.29 |
7
179.47 |
7
270.76 |
| 19–22 December 2024 | 2025 Russian Championships | 15
67.44 |
14
155.91 |
14
223.35 |
Junior
| 2023–2024 season | |||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Date | Event | Level | SP | FS | Total |
| 13–16 March 2024 | 2024 Russian Cup Final | Junior | 2
88.34 |
3
181.69 |
3
270.03 |
| 5–9 February 2024 | 2024 Russian Junior Championships | Junior | 2
83.83 |
15
138.77 |
10
222.60 |
| 2022–2023 season | |||||
| Date | Event | Level | SP | FS | Total |
| 1–3 March 2023 | 2023 Russian Cup Final | Junior | 3
80.88 |
5
161.26 |
5
242.14 |
| 14–18 February 2023 | 2023 Russian Junior Championships | Junior | 4
81.78 |
6
153.15 |
6
234.93 |
| 14–20 December 2022 | 2022 Russian–Chinese Winter Youth Games | Junior | 3
62.06 |
3
133.20 |
3
195.26 |
| 2021–2022 season | |||||
| Date | Event | Level | SP | FS | Total |
| 23–27 February 2022 | 2022 Russian Cup Final | Junior | 11
68.66 |
11
133.52 |
11
202.18 |
| 11–13 February 2022 | 2022 Jégvirág Cup | Junior | 1
62.02 |
1
116.83 |
1
178.85 |
| 18–22 January 2022 | 2022 Russian Junior Championships | Junior | 6
79.87 |
3
147.95 |
2
227.82 |
| 27–31 October 2021 | 2021 Denis Ten Memorial Challenge | Junior | 5
67.57 |
5
135.88 |
4
203.45 |
| 2020–2021 season | |||||
| Date | Event | Level | SP | FS | Total |
| 26 Feb. – 2 Mar. 2021 | 2021 Russian Cup Final | Junior | 1
82.39 |
4
139.79 |
3
222.18 |
| 1–5 February 2021 | 2021 Russian Junior Championships | Junior | 8
76.27 |
5
152.14 |
5
228.41 |
Notes
- The 2023 Russian Cup Final was renamed as the 2023 Russian Grand Prix Final.