Recently, the name of Alexandra Stepanova is increasingly heard from everywhere that talk about figure skating. This young girl, paired with Ivan Bukin, confidently goes to the heights of ice dancing, defeating one sports couple after another.
Biography, first steps in sports
Sasha Stepanova was born on August 19, 1995 in a family indirectly related to sports: her parents were involved in volleyball and speed skating at an amateur level. However, when the girl had her first successes on ice, they immediately decided that figure skating should be practiced professionally. In 2006, the family moved to Moscow, where Sasha and paired with Ivan Bukin, the son of the 1988 Olympic champion Andrei Bukin, paired with Natalia Bestemyanova.
Initially, like most skaters, Alexandra was engaged in single skating. But, as often happens in this form, during the period of growing up, the girl lost her jumping technique - she stopped getting good axels and sheepskin coats. This insanely upset the young athlete, who from the age of 4 had been persistently engaged in her favorite figure skating, forgetting about lessons and friends.
The coaches, noticing the difficulties with jumping, suggested that Stepanova should go to ice dancing, which was perfect for an artistic, plastic girl skating at great speed.
The search for a partner began, which did not last long - at the same time, for Vanya Bukin, his trainers were also looking for a partner for him, looking at the film clometers. One of the videotapes also featured Sasha Stepanova's performance. The girl made an indelible impression on the Bukin.
Young people fit each other literally perfectly in terms of physical data, but in terms of technical training Sasha turned out to be weaker. However, the stubborn girl soon made up for the difference by practicing for hours at the rink. For Ivan, she was not the first partner - the boy had previously trained in tandem with Elena Ilinykh. However, she left him and paired up with Nikita Katsalapov (later the couple reached significant heights in figure skating).
Real dances
Ice dancing for Stepanova began in 2008. The couple's coaches then and to this day remain Alexander Svinin and Irina Zhuk. Almost a year after the formation of the duo, their ascent to the podium among junior pairs began. They literally mesmerized the judges with their artistry, beauty and flexibility. That is only the original support, which no one else in the world has. From 2010 to 2013, Sasha and Vanya are six-time winners of junior competitions. This is an absolute success.
Transition to another level
How often in the world of figure skating you can hear that a pair that shone in juniors breaks up when they switch to adult amateur skating. This stage did not go so smoothly for Stepanova-Bukin, who, however, managed to keep the pair and improve their skills. Not everyone in the world of figure skating likes the rapid progress of this pair, therefore, the marks for their extraordinary numbers are often lower than expected. However, as Alexandra admits, this personally spurs her on and motivates her to train tirelessly, almost around the clock.
So far, the young couple do not succumb to the highest steps of the podium of such competitions as
- Europe championship;
- World Championship;
- final of the Grand Prix.
However, they have repeatedly become bronze and silver medalists of these international competitions.
The personal life of a young skater
Like most athletes who devote themselves entirely to sports, Alexandra has little time to arrange her personal life - all the time her time and thoughts are occupied with ice dancing. Some consider them to be a couple with Ivan Bukin in real life, but the guys do not stop stirring doubts. Young people claim that they are just good friends, they are like brother and sister - they spend a lot of time together and outside the rink, but the passion between them is only in sports. The guys have a large number of joint photo sessions, which they show on social networks.
According to Stepanova's admission to her Instagram subscribers, there was still love. Moreover, it is mutual: first, Sasha felt a feeling for Ivan, then, when it passed, Ivan fell in love with a beautiful girl - but was a couple of years late.
Season 2018-2019
2018, the Stepanova-Bukin couple were waiting with special trepidation: they were planning a trip to Korea for the Olympic Games. However, the Committee did not give them permission to participate. Young people did not become discouraged, because literally the day before in January 2018, they became bronze medalists of the European Championship, which was held in Moscow. In general, Alexandra is a girl with character, she is not inclined to give up despite any difficulties in her sports career. For example, the 7th place at the World Championship in Italy also failed to knock out the fighting spirit from the duo.
For the 2018-2019 season, the Stepanova-Bukin couple came up as prepared as possible. In addition to the main coaches, the 2006 Olympic champion paired with Romanov Kostomarov of the year Tatyana Navka took part in the dance production, the hand of an experienced director and brilliant dancer Pyotr Chernyshov is also noticeable. Well, the guys' costumes for rhythm dance and free program are simply amazing: bright, unusual, memorable. They were made for the couple by Valentin Yudashkin. On Alexandra, almost any outfit looks sexy, let alone open dresses for performances.
The Finlandia Trophy is the landmark competition of the season for world-class figure skaters. In the current season, the tournament was completely submitted to this pair, although it was not without unpleasant surprises - during the performance of a rhythm dance duet, a serpentine appeared on the ice. The judges stopped the music, and the athletes continued their performance only after the removal of traumatic objects from the rink. However, this traumatic situation did not prevent Stepanova and Bukin from gaining the most points and setting a world record. After the performance, the optimistic partner noticed that such a respite, on the contrary, helped the couple to regain strength in front of the complex elements that literally dazzle in their programs.
Here is the list of awards for the star pair ascending to the top of the pedestal:
- 2011 - silver at the World Junior Championships in Belarus;
- 2011 - gold at the Russian Spartakiad among youth;
- 2012 - gold at the World Junior Championships in Italy;
- 2013 - gold at the Russian Championship among juniors;
- 2014 - gold "Finlandia Trophy";
- 2014 - bronze medal at the European Championship;
- 2014 - bronze medal at the Russian Championship;
- 2015 - bronze medal at the Russian Championship;
- 2016 - silver medal at the Russian Championship;
- 2016 - gold medal at the international tournament "Finlandia Trophy";
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2017 - silver medal at the Russian Championship;
Image - 2017 - silver at the Finlandia Trophy tournament;
- 2018 - bronze medal of the European Championship;
- 2018 - gold at the international tournament "FinlandiaTrophy".
Figure skating fans believe that this is just the beginning and the big victories of the promising pair are ahead.
