# Grigory Smirnov

Grigory Sergeyevich Smirnov (Russian: Григорий Сергеевич Смирнов, born 1 April 1997) is a Russian retired ice dancer who competed for the United States. With his former skating partner, Anastasia Shpilevaya, competing for Russia, he is the 2019 Bavarian Open champion, 2016 Youth Olympic champion, and 2017 Russian junior national champion.
During the 2021–22, he competed with Avonley Nguyen for the United States. He did not represent the US in international competition.

## Personal life

Grigory Sergeyevich Smirnov was born on 1 April 1997 in Nizhny Novgorod, Russia. He resides in Moscow.

## Career
### Early years

Smirnov began learning to skate in 2002. He competed with Yulia Borisova in the 2010–11 season and with Valeria Neyman in 2011–12.
Smirnov teamed up with Anastasia Shpilevaya ahead of the 2012–13 season. Competing on the junior level, they placed fifth at the Ice Challenge and won silver at the Pavel Roman Memorial. The following season, they qualified for the 2014 Russian Junior Championships, where they finished seventh.

### 2014–2015 season

Shpilevaya/Smirnov received their first ISU Junior Grand Prix (JGP) assignments in the 2014–15 season. They won bronze in late August at the JGP in Courchevel, France, but finished ninth the following month in Tallinn, Estonia. The two placed fifth at the 2015 Russian Junior Championships.

### 2015–2016 season

Shpilevaya/Smirnov's first event of the 2015 JGP series took place in October in Logroño, Spain. They finished fourth, outscored for the bronze medal by Elliana Pogrebinsky / Alex Benoit, resulting in the loss of their provisional assignment to Zagreb, Croatia. In January 2016, they won the bronze medal at the Russian Junior Championships, behind Alla Loboda / Pavel Drozd and Betina Popova / Yuri Vlasenko. They were named in Russia's teams to the Youth Olympics and World Junior Championships.
In February, Shpilevaya/Smirnov won gold at the 2016 Winter Youth Olympics in Hamar, Norway, having placed first in both segments. Assigned to Team Courage for the mixed NOC team event, they placed first in their segment and their team finished sixth. On March 15–20, they competed at the 2016 World Junior Championships in Debrecen, Hungary where they finished fifth.

### 2016–2017 season

In the 2016–17 Season, Shpilevaya/Smirnov's first JGP assignment was at the 2016 JGP Japan where they won the silver medal with a total score of 151.50 points. A month later they achieved their second silver of the season at the 2016 JGP Germany. With two silver medals they qualified for the 2016−17 JGP Final where they placed sixth.
In February 2017 Shpilevaya/Smirnov won the gold medal at the 2017 Russian Junior Championships after placing second in the short dance and 1st in the free dance. They beat the silver medalist and the favourites, Alla Loboda / Pavel Drozd, by almost 6 points, mainly due to the costly fall that Lododa had in the free dance.
In March 2017 they competed at the 2017 World Junior Championships where they finished fourth after placing fourth in both the short dance and free dance. At these championships they scored their personal best score of 152.66 points.

### 2017–2018 season

In the 2017–18 Season, Shpilevaya/Smirnov's first JGP assignment was at the 2016 JGP Latvia where they won the silver medal behind their teammates and training partners, Sofia Shevchenko / Igor Eremenko. Due to Smirnov's injury, which required a surgery, they had to skip the rest of the season.

### 2018–2019 season

Shpilevaya/Smirnov started their season by competing in two ISU Challenger Series events. In early October they made their international senior debut at the 2018 CS Finlandia Trophy where they finished fifth and in mid-November, they competed at the 2018 CS Alpen Trophy where they placed fourth. They placed sixth at the 2019 Russian Championships.

### 2019–2020 & 2020–2021 seasons

Beginning the season with two Challenger assignments, Shpilevaya/Smirnov placed fourth at 2019 CS Lombardia Trophy and then sixth at 2019 CS Finlandia Trophy. Making their Grand Prix debut, they placed sixth at the 2019 Rostelecom Cup. At the 2020 Russian Championships, they placed ninth.
In September 2020, it was announced that the pair had split due to Shpilevaya's inability to practice due to the lasting effects of a severe case of COVID-19.

### 2021–2022 season

In September 2021, it was confirmed that Smirnov had switched federations to compete with American ice dancer Avonley Nguyen for the United States after Shpilevaya was forced to end her career. They were scheduled to make their U.S. Championship debut in January 2022, but withdrew after Smirnov suffered a hip injury.
On August 20, 2022, Smirnov announced he had retired and was now coaching.

## Programs
### With Nguyen

| Season | Rhythm dance | Free dance | Exhibition |
| 2021–2022 | I Want It That Way Everybody (Backstreet's Back) by Backstreet Boys | Dusk Till Dawn by Zayn, feat. Sia | |

### With Shpilevaya

| Season | Rhythm dance | Free dance |
| 2019–2020 | Hopelessly Devoted to You (from Grease) by John Farrar performed by Olivia Newton-John You're the One That I Want (from Grease) by John Farrar performed by John Travolta, Olivia Newton-John | How to Steal a Diamond by Quincy Jones |
| 2018–2019 | Tango Amore by Edvin Marton | Skeletons by Drehz Thunder by Imagine Dragons Neverland by Drehz |
| | Short dance | |
| 2017–2018 | Cha Cha: Kiss performed by Tom Jones Samba: Baila Baila Conmigo performed by Domino | Love Story |
| 2016–2017 | Blues: Ain't No Sunshine Swing: Air Mail Special by Ella Fitzgerald Club des Belugas remix | Che Ne Parliamo A Fa by Renzo Arbore, Lino Banfi O Sole Mio by Filippa Giordano Luna Mezzo Mare by Patrizio Buanne |
| 2015–2016 | Foxtrot: Somewhere, My Love performed by Frank Sinatra Waltz: | The Umbrellas of Cherbourg by Michel Legrand |
| 2014–2015 | Samba: Rhumba: Samba: | Out of My Mind by Raphael Gualazzi Bye, Bye Johnny by Robert Wells |

## Competitive highlights

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

### With Shpilevaya for Russia

International :
| Event | 12–13 | 13–14 | 14–15 | 15–16 | 16–17 | 17–18 | 18–19 | 19–20 |
| GP Rostelecom Cup | | | | | | | | 6th |
| CS Alpen Trophy | | | | | | | 4th | |
| CS Finlandia | | | | | | | 5th | 6th |
| CS Lombardia | | | | | | | | 4th |
| Bavarian Open | | | | | | | 1st | |
| Universiade | | | | | | | 5th | |
| International: Junior |||||||||
| Junior Worlds | | | | 5th | 4th | | | |
| Youth Olympics | | | | 1st | | | | |
| JGP Final | | | | | 6th | | | |
| JGP Estonia | | | 9th | | | | | |
| JGP France | | | 3rd | | | | | |
| JGP Germany | | | | | 2nd | | | |
| JGP Japan | | | | | 2nd | | | |
| JGP Latvia | | | | | | 2nd | | |
| JGP Spain | | | | 4th | | | | |
| Denkova-Staviski | | | | 1st | | | | |
| Ice Challenge | 5th | | | | | | | |
| Ice Star | | | | | 1st | | | |
| Pavel Roman | 2nd | | | | | | | |
| Volvo Open Cup | | | 1st | | | | | |
| National |||||||||
| Russia | | | | | | | 6th | 9th |
| Russia, Junior | | 7th | 5th | 3rd | 1st | WD | | |
| Team events |||||||||
| Youth Olympics | | | | 6th T 1st P | | | | |
| TBD = Assigned; WD = Withdrew T = Team result; P = Personal result. Medals awarded for team result only. |||||||||

## Detailed results

With Shpilevaya
2019–20 season :
| Date | Event | RD | FD | Total |
| 24–29 December 2019 | 2020 Russian Championships | 8 70.34 | 9 105.33 | 9 175.67 |
| 15–17 November 2019 | 2019 Rostelecom Cup | 6 67.04 | 5 105.89 | 6 172.93 |
| 11–13 October 2019 | 2019 CS Finlandia Trophy | 6 68.04 | 5 97.77 | 6 165.81 |
| 13–15 September 2019 | 2019 CS Lombardia Trophy | 6 67.04 | 5 103.58 | 4 170.62 |
| 2018–19 season |||||
| Date | Event | RD | FD | Total |
| 7–9 March 2019 | 2019 Winter Universiade | 6 62.19 | 5 104.63 | 5 166.82 |
| 5–10 February 2019 | 2019 Bavarian Open | 3 65.00 | 1 108.55 | 1 173.55 |
| 19–23 December 2018 | 2019 Russian Championships | 7 68.00 | 6 105.23 | 6 173.23 |
| 11–18 November 2018 | 2018 CS Alpen Trophy | 4 63.43 | 5 95.22 | 4 158.65 |
| 4–7 October 2018 | 2018 CS Finlandia Trophy | 5 64.33 | 4 103.61 | 5 167.94 |
2017–18 season :
| Date | Event | Level | SD | FD | Total |
| 6–9 September 2017 | 2017 JGP Latvia | Junior | 1 60.11 | 2 79.72 | 2 139.83 |
| 2016–17 season ||||||
| Date | Event | Level | SD | FD | Total |
| 15–19 March 2017 | 2017 World Junior Championships | Junior | 4 63.26 | 4 89.40 | 4 152.66 |
| 1–5 February 2017 | 2017 Russian Junior Championships | Junior | 2 67.71 | 1 96.17 | 1 163.88 |
| 8–11 December 2016 | 2016−17 JGP Final | Junior | 6 59.29 | 6 81.35 | 6 140.64 |
| 18–20 November 2016 | 2016 Ice Star | Junior | 1 66.49 | 1 93.43 | 1 159.92 |
| 5–9 October 2016 | 2016 JGP Germany | Junior | 2 61.00 | 2 87.02 | 2 148.02 |
| 7–11 September 2016 | 2016 JGP Japan | Junior | 2 60.88 | 2 90.62 | 2 151.50 |
| 2015–16 season ||||||
| Date | Event | Level | SD | FD | Total |
| 14–20 March 2016 | 2016 World Junior Championships | Junior | 4 59.15 | 6 87.40 | 5 146.55 |
| 12–21 February 2016 | 2016 Winter Youth Olympics - Team Event | Junior | - | 1 86.48 | 6 |
| 12–21 February 2016 | 2016 Winter Youth Olympics | Junior | 1 57.93 | 1 83.95 | 1 141.88 |
| 19–23 January 2016 | 2016 Russian Junior Championships | Junior | 2 63.73 | 3 92.23 | 3 155.96 |
| 20–25 October 2015 | 2015 Denkova-Staviski Cup | Junior | 1 57.78 | 1 90.33 | 1 148.11 |
| 30 September – 4 October 2015 | 2015 JGP Spain | Junior | 4 57.15 | 4 83.24 | 4 140.39 |
| 2014–15 season ||||||
| Date | Event | Level | SD | FD | Total |
| 4–7 February 2015 | 2015 Russian Junior Championships | Junior | 4 55.47 | 4 84.39 | 5 139.86 |
| 5–9 November 2014 | 2014 Volvo Open Cup | Junior | 1 57.05 | 1 82.96 | 1 140.01 |
| 24–28 September 2014 | 2014 JGP Estonia | Junior | 8 42.96 | 9 68.70 | 9 111.66 |
| 20–24 August 2014 | 2014 JGP France | Junior | 3 47.94 | 4 73.48 | 3 121.42 |
| 2013–14 season ||||||
| Date | Event | Level | SD | FD | Total |
| 22–25 January 2014 | 2014 Russian Junior Championships | Junior | 6 56.96 | 7 75.52 | 7 132.48 |