In the 2012–13 season Nikishyn won the Heidenheim Grand Prix and earned a silver medal in the Berne Grand Prix, which allowed him to enter the Top 10 for the first time in his career. In the next season he reached the final in the Doha Grand Prix, where he was defeated by Korea's Park Sang-young, but then he won the Heidenheim Grand Prix and the Buenos Aires Grand Prix. He made his way to the quarter-finals of the 2014 World Championships in Kazan, where he lost to Korea's Park Kyoung-doo. He finished the season as No.2 in world rankings.