# Marko Jevgeni Gaidajenko

Marko Jevgeni Gaidajenko (born 1 November 2001) is an Estonian ice dancer. With former partner, Solène Mazingue, he is the 2021 JGP France II bronze medalist, a two-time Estonian national champion (2022, 2024), and he competed in the final segment at the 2022 European Championships.

## Career
### Early years

Gaidajenko began learning to skate in 2007. As a novice ice dancer, he competed with Jessenia Tsenkman.
By 2018, Gaidajenko was skating with Darja Netjaga. The two made their ISU Junior Grand Prix (JGP) debut in October 2018, placing eleventh in Ljubljana, Slovenia. During the following JGP season, Netjaga/Gaidajenko finished twelfth in Latvia and thirteenth in Italy. Ranked twenty-fifth in the rhythm dance, they did not advance to the free dance at the 2020 World Junior Championships in Tallinn. They trained in Tallinn and Moscow, coached by Julia Semjonova and Alexei Gorshkov. The team split after the onset of the COVID-19 pandemic. The pandemic made searching for a new partner difficult, but Gaidajenko eventually arranged a tryout in France with French ice dancer Solène Mazingue in December 2020. In January 2021, they announced their partnership.

### 2021–2022 season

Mazingue/Gaidajenko made their international debut in August at the 2021 JGP France II, the second of two events held in Courchevel. There, the team placed fifth in the rhythm dance but rose to third in the free dance to claim the bronze medal overall behind American teams Brown/Brown and Flores/Tsarevski. Their medal marked the first medal for Estonia on the Junior Grand Prix circuit in ice dance since 2011. At their second JGP event, the 2021 JGP Austria, Mazingue/Gaidajenko finished ninth.
Moving up to the senior level, Mazingue/Gaidajenko made their Challenger Series debut in November at the 2021 CS Warsaw Cup. They placed fifteenth at the event. Later in December, they won their first senior national title at the 2022 Estonian Championships before returning to the Challenger Series at the 2021 CS Golden Spin of Zagreb, where they finished ninth. Due to their placement at Estonian nationals, Mazingue/Gaidajenko were assigned to Estonia's berth in ice dance at the 2022 European Championships. On the decision to compete at both levels in one season, atypical in ice dance, Gaidajenko would later note "it's usually more challenging because it's usually absolutely two different rhythm dances, but last season that was the same subject, like a hip hop and street culture. Also, it was both the blues. It's Midnight Blues (senior) and Blues (junior), so it was easier."
At the European Championships, held in Gaidajenko's hometown Tallinn, Mazingue/Gaidajenko set a new personal best in the rhythm dance to qualify to the free dance in 20th place. They maintained their standing in the free dance and finished twentieth overall. Mazingue/Gaidajenko concluded the season at the 2022 World Championships, held in Montpellier with Russian dance teams absent due to the International Skating Union banning all Russian athletes due to their country's invasion of Ukraine. They qualified to the free dance and finished nineteenth.

### 2022–2023 season

The Russo-Ukrainian War necessitated that Mazingue and Gaidajenko leave their Moscow training location, which had already been inconvenient in terms of visa access. In advance of the next season, they opted to move to train at the Ice Academy of Montreal, widely considered the world's top ice dance training center, under Canadian coaches Marie-France Dubreuil and Patrice Lauzon and Frenchman Romain Haguenauer. They were scheduled to begin the season at the Finlandia Trophy in October, but a week in advance of the event, they had a major training accident. After Gaidajenko tripped while practicing a lift, Mazingue hit her head on the ice, suffering a skull fracture and intracranial bleeding that required surgery.
After months of physiotherapy, Mazingue was allowed to return to the ice in January. Describing her resumption of training later, she said that "the day I finally got on the ice, I started crying because I had so many emotions at once — excitement, sadness, joy. All at once! I cried and hugged Marko and then I knew that nothing can stop me, one day I will become an Olympic champion. Because this accident was crazy, but I came back to the ice and this is my victory."
After resuming training, with Mazingue wearing a protective helmet until March, the team was eventually cleared to compete at the 2023 World Championships in Saitama. Gaidajenko explained that "we made this decision for Solene and for us as a couple. Every person needs a goal to strive for." Mazingue/Gaidajenko placed twenty-eighth in the rhythm dance, with a score of 55.67 points. They did not qualify for the free dance, but Mazingue stated afterward that they went in knowing that was unlikely, and that had they managed to do so, they would have withdrawn beforehand as they were not ready for it yet.
As a result of their low placements in the season, the team lost their financial support from the Estonian Skating Union, and began to fundraise via GoFundMe.

### 2023–2024 season

Mazingue/Gaidajenko started the season by winning gold at the 2023 NRW Trophy and finishing seventh at the 2023 CS Golden Spin of Zagreb.
They went on to win their second national title at the 2024 Estonian Championships. Selected to compete at the 2024 European Championships in Kaunas, Lithuania, Mazingue/Gaidajenko finished twentieth. Two months later at the 2024 World Championships in Montreal, Quebec, Canada, they place thirty-third in the rhythm dance and failed to advance to the free dance.
In October 2024, Gaidajenko announced that his partnership with Mazingue had ended.

## Programs
### With Mazingue

| Season | Rhythm dance | Free dance |
| 2023–2024 | Walk This Way performed by Run-DMC Push It by Salt-N-Pepa choreo. by Romain Haguenauer, Marie-France Dubreuil, Guillaume Cizeron, Samuel Chouinard, Scott Moir | Black Panther: Wakanda Forever No Woman, No Cry performed by Tems Árboles Bajo El Mar by Mare Advertencia Lirika & Vivir Quintana Lift Me Up by Rihanna choreo. by Romain Haguenauer, Marie-France Dubreuil, Guillaume Cizeron, Samuel Chouinard, Scott Moir |
| 2022–2023 | Rhumba: Amado Mio performed by Pink Martini Cha Cha: Dónde Estás Yolanda by Pink Martini Rhumba: Amado Mio performed by Pink Martini | Evil Morty by Lucas King Evil Morty Theme (For the Damaged Coda) by Samuel Kim |
| 2021–2022 | Clint Eastwood by Gorillaz Beggin' performed by Måneskin choreo. by Artem Khromykh | To Build a Home by The Cinematic Orchestra choreo. by Artem Khromykh |

### With Netjaga

| Season | Rhythm dance | Free dance |
| 2019–2020 | Swing: Puttin' On the Ritz Foxtrot: Puttin' On the Ritz Quickstep: Puttin' On the Ritz by Irving Berlin choreo. by Elena Maslennikova | Love of My Life Death on Two Legs (Dedicated to...) by Queen choreo. by Elena Maslennikova |
| 2018–2019 | Tango: Take the Lead by Veronica Verdier Tango: Tango Mistico by Tanghetto | Love Theme from Romeo and Juliet by Nino Rota, Henry Mancini Lux Aeterna by Clint Mansell A Time For Us (from Romeo and Juliet) performed by Barratt Waugh |

## Competitive highlights
### Ice dance with Solène Mazingue

* JGP – Event of the ISU Junior Grand Prix Series
* CS – Event of the ISU Challenger Series
Competition placements at senior level :
| Season | 2021–22 | 2022–23 | 2023–24 |
| World Championships | 19th | 28th | 33rd |
| European Championships | 20th | | 20th |
| Estonian Championships | 1st | | 1st |
| CS Golden Spin of Zagreb | 9th | | 7th |
| CS Warsaw Cup | 15th | | |
| NRW Trophy | | | 1st |
Competition placements at junior level :
| Season | 2021–22 |
| JGP Austria | 9th |
| JGP France | 3rd |

### Ice dance with Darja Netjaga

International: Junior :
| Event | 18–19 | 19–20 |
| Junior Worlds | | 25th |
| JGP Italy | | 13th |
| JGP Latvia | | 12th |
| JGP Slovenia | 11th | |
| Halloween Cup | | 7th |
| Mentor Toruń Cup | | 13th |
| Tallinn Trophy | 5th | |
| Volvo Open | | 7th |
| National |||
| Estonian Champ. | 2nd J | 1st J |

## Detailed results
### Ice dance with Solène Mazingue
#### Senior level

Results in the 2021–22 season :
| Date | Event | RD | RD | FD | FD | Total | Total |
| Date | Event | P | Score | P | Score | P | Score |
| Nov 19–20, 2021 | 2021 CS Warsaw Cup | 17 | 57.83 | 14 | 89.71 | 15 | 147.54 |
| Dec 4–5, 2021 | 2022 Estonian Championships | 2 | 61.95 | 1 | 93.60 | 1 | 155.55 |
| Dec 9–11, 2021 | 2021 CS Golden Spin of Zagreb | 8 | 58.89 | 9 | 88.62 | 9 | 147.51 |
| Jan 10–16, 2022 | 2022 European Championships | 20 | 60.36 | 20 | 83.53 | 20 | 142.89 |
| Mar 21–27, 2022 | 2022 World Championships | 20 | 63.97 | 19 | 85.07 | 19 | 149.04 |
Results in the 2022–23 season :
| Date | Event | RD | RD | FD | FD | Total | Total |
| Date | Event | P | Score | P | Score | P | Score |
| Mar 22–26, 2023 | 2023 World Championships | 28 | 55.67 | – | – | 28 | 55.67 |
Results in the 2023–24 season :
| Date | Event | RD | RD | FD | FD | Total | Total |
| Date | Event | P | Score | P | Score | P | Score |
| Dec 6–9, 2023 | 2023 CS Golden Spin of Zagreb | 6 | 63.86 | 6 | 99.89 | 7 | 163.75 |
| Dec 16–17, 2023 | 2024 Estonian Championships | 1 | 66.33 | 1 | 104.10 | 1 | 170.43 |
| Mar 18–24, 2024 | 2024 World Championships | 33 | 57.09 | – | – | 33 | 57.09 |

#### Junior level

Results in the 2021–22 season :
| Date | Event | RD | RD | FD | FD | Total | Total |
| Date | Event | P | Score | P | Score | P | Score |
| Aug 25–28, 2021 | 2021 JGP France II | 5 | 54.23 | 3 | 84.00 | 3 | 138.23 |
| Oct 7–9, 2021 | 2021 JGP Austria | 11 | 48.81 | 7 | 82.42 | 9 | 131.23 |