Ilya Olegovich Yablokov (Russian: Илья Олегович Яблоков; born 29 September 2003) is a Russian figure skater. He is the 2019 European Youth Olympic Festival champion and a three-time Junior Grand Prix medalist, including gold at 2021 JGP Slovenia. He finished in the top ten at the 2020 World Junior Championships.

Ilya Yablokov
Full nameIlya Olegovich Yablokov
Native nameИлья Олегович Яблоков (Russian)
Other namesIlia
Born (2003-09-29) 29 September 2003 (age 20)
Saint Petersburg, Russia
Height1.73 m (5 ft 8 in)
Figure skating career
Country Russia
CoachViktoria Butsaeva
Skating clubOlympic School "Moskvich"
Began skating2007

Personal life edit

Yablokov was born on 29 September 2003 in Saint Petersburg. As of 2020, he is a high school student.[1]

Career edit

Yablokov began skating in 2007. He initially trained under Nadezhda Kondulinskaya and Alexander Shubin in Moscow, before later switching to Viktoria Butsaeva.[2]

On the junior level internationally, Yablokov is the 2018 Christmas Cup, the 2019 Cup of Tyrol, and the 2019 European Youth Olympic Festival champion. Earlier, he won silver at the 2017 Cup of Tyrol. At the Russian Junior Championships, Yablokov placed 14th in 2018 and 10th in 2019.

2019–2020 season edit

Yablokov received his first Junior Grand Prix assignments. At his first event, JGP Russia, he won bronze behind teammates Petr Gumennik and Artur Danielian as part of a Russian podium sweep. Yablokov was fourth at his second event in Italy, missing the podium by around eight points. As a result of his placements and by virtue of a tiebreaker, he was third alternate for the 2019–20 Junior Grand Prix Final.

Yablokov finished 11th at the 2020 Russian Championships in December after replacing Mikhail Kolyada, who was recovering from sinusitis. He sixth at the 2020 Russian Junior Championships in February and was subsequently named first alternate for the 2020 World Junior Championships team. Yablokov won senior bronze behind Makar Ignatov and Anton Shulepov at the Russian Cup Final at the end of February.

Yablokov was called up to replace Daniil Samsonov on the Junior Worlds team after Samsonov withdrew due to health issues.[3] At the World Junior Championships, he was seventh after the short program but tenth in the free skating to finish tenth overall. Afterwards, Yablokov expressed that he was "extremely dissatisfied" with his performance at the event.[4]

2020–2021 season edit

Yablokov spent part of the offseason at a national team training camp in Sirius. He fell ill with a sore throat three weeks before Russian test skates and contracted a rotavirus infection upon arriving in Novogorsk for the test skates. Yablokov's coach, Viktoria Butsaeva cited his illnesses as part of their struggles to prepare adequately for the season but noted his junior bronze medal at the Moscow Championships in September was a turning point.[5]

Due to the COVID-19 pandemic, the Junior Grand Prix, where Yablokov would have competed, was cancelled. However, after the Grand Prix series was converted into semi-domestic events, he was able to replace Alexander Samarin at 2020 Rostelecom Cup as the latter was still recovering from a back injury.[6] At Rostelecom Cup, Yablokov was tenth in the short program and ninth in the free skating to finish ninth overall.

At the 2021 Russian Championships in December, Yablokov struggled with mistakes in both programs, finishing in 13th place. He reflected after the short program that he was "not very happy with [himself]," noting that he could usually perform the elements "well and consistently."[7] Yablokov then competed at the 2021 Russian Junior Championships in February, finishing second in the short program, but made mistakes in the free skating to place sixth in the segment.[8] He appeared to have won the bronze medal but fell to fourth after judges realized that competitor Egor Rukhin's quadruple Salchow was miscalled as a triple; Rukhin's score with the adjusted base value placed him about 1.5 points above Yablokov.[9]

2021–2022 season edit

With the resumption of international junior competition, Yablokov returned to the Junior Grand Prix at the 2021 JGP Slovakia, winning the silver medal.[10] He went on to win a gold medal at the 2021 JGP Slovenia, qualifying for the 2021–22 Junior Grand Prix Final, but the latter event was cancelled as a result of concerns prompted by the Omicron variant. He was fifteenth at the 2021 CS Warsaw Cup at the senior level.[11]

At the 2022 Russian Championships, Yablokov finished in fourteenth place.[11]

Programs edit

Season Short program Free skating
2022-2024
2021–2022
[12]
  • Born to Play Reprise
  • I Need You
    by Jon Batiste
    choreo. by Nikita Mikhailov
2020–2021
[1]

2019–2020
[13]
2018–2019
  • Sarabande Suite
    by Globus
    choreo. by Nikita Mikhailov

Competitive highlights edit

GP: Grand Prix; CS: Challenger Series; JGP: Junior Grand Prix

International[11]
Event 16–17 17–18 18–19 19–20 20–21 21–22 22–23 23–24
GP Rostelecom Cup 9th
CS Warsaw Cup 15th
International: Junior[11]
Junior Worlds 10th
JGP Final C
JGP Italy 4th
JGP Russia 3rd
JGP Slovakia 2nd
JGP Slovenia 1st
EYOF 1st
Christmas Cup 1st
Cup of Tyrol 2nd 1st
National[11]
Russian Champ. 11th 14th 14th 11th 9th
Russian Junior 14th 10th 6th 4th 1st
GPR Golden Skate WD
GPR Krasnoyarye 4th
GPR Moscow Stars 4th
GPR Perm Territory 2nd
C = Event cancelled

Detailed results edit

ISU Personal best in bold.

Senior results edit

2021–22 season
Date Event SP FS Total
December 21–26, 2021 2022 Russian Championships 13
85.40
13
158.31
14
243.71
November 17–20, 2021 2021 CS Warsaw Cup 9
76.41
20
121.91
15
198.32
2020–21 season
Date Event SP FS Total
December 23–27, 2020 2021 Russian Championships 13
77.38
14
136.77
14
214.15
November 20–22, 2020 2020 Rostelecom Cup 10
79.15
9
163.37
9
242.52
2019–20 season
Date Event SP FS Total
December 24–28, 2019 2020 Russian Championships 12
75.86
11
147.95
11
223.81

Junior results edit

2021–22 season
Date Event SP FS Total
18–22 January 2022 2022 Russian Junior Championships 3
83.22
4
144.77
1
227.99
September 22–25, 2021 2021 JGP Slovenia 1
78.89
1
153.10
1
231.99
September 1–4, 2021 2021 JGP Slovakia 2
73.25
2
134.14
2
207.39
2020–21 season
Date Event SP FS Total
February 1–5, 2021 2021 Russian Junior Championships 2
85.38
6
148.86
4
234.24
2019–20 season
Date Event SP FS Total
March 2–8, 2020 2020 World Junior Championships 7
77.53
10
128.63
10
206.16
February 4–8, 2020 2020 Russian Junior Championships 4
81.62
6
144.48
6
226.10
October 2–5, 2019 2019 JGP Italy 5
70.39
4
143.01
4
213.40
September 11–14, 2019 2019 JGP Russia 3
73.73
3
133.95
3
207.68
2018–19 season
Date Event SP FS Total
March 2–3, 2019 2019 Cup of Tyrol 1
78.04
1
138.60
1
216.64
February 13–14, 2019 2019 European Youth Olympic Festival 1
74.76
1
136.86
1
211.62
Jan. 31 – Feb. 4, 2019 2019 Russian Junior Championships 12
75.38
10
139.32
10
214.70
Nov. 29 – Dec. 1, 2018 2018 Christmas Cup 1
69.92
1
120.43
1
190.35
2017–18 season
Date Event SP FS Total
January 23–26, 2018 2018 Russian Junior Championships 13
69.99
17
125.29
14
195.28
2016–17 season
Date Event SP FS Total
Feb. 28 – Mar. 5, 2017 2017 Cup of Tyrol 1
63.17
2
116.60
2
179.77

References edit

  1. ^ a b "Ilya YABLOKOV: 2020/2021". International Skating Union. Archived from the original on 19 November 2020.
  2. ^ "Яблоков Илья Олегович" [Yablokov Ilya Olegovich]. fskate.ru (in Russian). Archived from the original on 23 July 2019.
  3. ^ Velichko, Maria (28 February 2020). "Виктория Буцаева: "Яблоков находится в хорошей форме. На ЮЧМ будем рисковать"" [Victoria Butsaeva: “Yablokov is in good shape. We will take risks at the JWC"]. sports-ru.com (in Russian).
  4. ^ Bespalova, Ekaterina (6 March 2020). "Яблоков — о выступлении на ЮЧМ: "За произвольную программу поставлю себе "двойку"" [Yablokov – about his performance at the JWC: "For the free program I will give myself a "two""]. Sport Express (in Russian).
  5. ^ Kuznetsov, Dmitry (6 September 2020). ""С "Хрустальным" и "Ангелами Плющенко" можно бороться". Мнение тренера из конкурирующей школы" ["You can fight with "Khrustalny" and "Angels of Plushenko"." The opinion of a coach from a competing school]. Sport Express (in Russian).
  6. ^ Lotsik, Lina (17 November 2020). "Яблоков заменит Самарина на Гран-при России" [Yablokov will replace Samarin at the Russian Grand Prix]. sports-ru.com.
  7. ^ Lotsik, Lina (24 December 2020). "Илья Яблоков: "Сам собой не очень доволен. Четверной прыжок был недокрученный, выезд плохой"" [Ilya Yablokov: “I'm not very happy with myself. The quadruple jump was under-rotated, the exit was bad "]. sports-ru.com.
  8. ^ Palar, Sanjeev (4 February 2021). "Evgeni Semenenko clinches Russian junior men's figure skating championship title". Olympic Channel.
  9. ^ "Федерация фигурного катания РФ рассмотрит эпизод с судейской ошибкой на первенстве России" [The Figure Skating Federation of Russia will consider an episode with a referee error at the Russian Championship]. TASS (in Russian). 4 February 2021.
  10. ^ "Russia's next generation shines in Kosice at ISU Junior Grand Prix". International Skating Union. September 6, 2021.
  11. ^ a b c d e "Competition Results: Ilya YABLOKOV". International Skating Union.
  12. ^ "Ilya YABLOKOV: 2021/2022". International Skating Union. Archived from the original on 3 September 2021.
  13. ^ "Ilya YABLOKOV: 2019/2020". International Skating Union. Archived from the original on 30 June 2020.

External links edit