Alexei Sviatchenko

Alexei Vadimovich Sviatchenko(Russian:Алексей Вадимович Святченко; born 24 March 1999) is a Russianpair skaterwho currently competes for Hungary. With his current skating partner,Maria Pavlova, he is the2023 Skate Canada Internationalsilver medalist, the2023 Grand Prix of Espoobronze medalist, the2023 CS Finlandia Trophybronze medalist, and a two-timeHungarian nationalchampion (2023–24).
Sviatchenko was born on 24 March 1999 inSt. Petersburg, Russia.FluentRussian, he has also been learning how to speak theHungarian language.
In March 2024, his girlfriend, former Russian ice dancer and choreographer,Sofia Evdokimova, announced that they were engaged.
Sviatchenko began learning how to skate in 2006. He became interested in the sport upon first seeing skaters at an ice rink and asked his mother to put him in lessons. He trained first as a single skater inKolpino, a suburb of St. Petersburg, and at the age of 12 took up pair skating at the Figure Skating Club of St. Petersburg coached byAlexei Sokolov.
Sviatchenko competed with his first partner, Daria Kvartalova, until 2019. The team competed at four junior international events together, most notably finishing third at the2018 JGP Canada. Following his split with Kvartalova, Sviatchenko had two more short-lived partnerships for Russia, one with Anastasia Balabanova during the2020–21 season, and another with Nadezhda Labazina the following year. Labazina/Sviatchenko had one international start together before parting ways, finishing ninth at the2021 CS Denis Ten Memorial Challenge.
Sviatchenko had his first tryout with his current skating partner, Maria Pavlova, in March 2022 at what is now their current training base inSochi. The duo chose to move forward as a new team for Hungary not long after, coached by Pavlova's staff consisting of Dmitri Savin,Fedor Klimov,Sofia Evdokimova, andGurgen Vardanjan.
Pavlova/Sviatchenko made their competitive debut late in the2022–23 seasonat the2022 CS Golden Spin of Zagreb, where they finished ninth. Weeks later, the team claimed their firstHungarian nationaltitle at the2023 Four Nationals Championship, the combined national championship event for Hungary, the Czech Republic, Slovakia, and Poland. Due to their placement at the event, Pavlova/Sviatchenko were named to the Hungarian teams for the2023 European Championshipsin January, and the2023 World Championshipsin March.
At the European Championships, Pavlova/Sviatchenko placed sixth in the short program and fourth in the free skate to finish fifth overall, the best placement for a Hungarian team at the event in many years. In preparation for the World Championships, the team competed at two senior B events, the2023 Bavarian Openand the2023 Challenge Cup, where they placed first and second respectively.
Pavlova/Sviatchenko capped their season at Worlds, hosted inSaitama, Japan. There, the duo set new personal bests in both segments of competition, placing eighth in the short program and seventh in the free skate for seventh-place finish overall, another landmark placement for a Hungarian pair team at the competition in recent memory.
Pavlova/Sviatchenko opened their second season together in September at the2023 CS Nebelhorn Trophywhere they finished fifth. They followed up this placement with a third-place finish at the2023 CS Finlandia Trophy, and a silver medal in the Challenger ineligible pairs event at the2023 CS Budapest Trophy.
The team made theirISU Grand Prixseries debut in late October at the2023 Skate Canada International, held inVancouver. Pavlova/Sviatchenko placed fourth in the short program, and rose to second in the free skate to finish second overall between Canadian gold medalistsStellato-Dudek/Deschampsand Italian third-place finishersBeccari/Guarise. Their placement marked the first medal for Hungary in pairs at a Grand Prix event. Following the free skate, Pavlova remarked, "We're really happy with our performance and we're going to improve every time and we have a lot of things to work on. Our federation is happy for us. We're giving good results for our country and we will continue to do that."
They were again fourth in the short program at the2023 Grand Prix of Espoo, but another second-place free skate won them the bronze medal.
The team's results on the Grand Prix initially had them finishing as first alternates to theGrand Prix Final.They were called up to compete at theBeijingevent following the withdrawal of German teamHocke/Kunkel, and came in fourth at the event.
Pavlova/Sviatchenko competed next at the2024 European Championships, finishing fourth in the short program, less than two points back of third place. They came third in the free skate, winning a bronze small medal, but remained fourth overall, 1.66 points behind bronze medalistsGhilardi/Ambrosiniof Italy. They expressed dissatisfaction with the judging of their performances, with Pavlova saying "our motivation goes down every time we keep getting these scores."
Finishing the season at the2024 World ChampionshipsinMontreal, Pavlova/Sviatchenko came sixth in the short program. They moved up to fourth after the free skate, which she called "very motivating for next season."
Pavlova/Sviatchenko started the season by competing at the2024 CS Lombardia Trophyand the2024 Shanghai Trophy, where they won bronze and gold, respectively. Going on to compete on the2024–25 Grand Prixseries, the pair placed fifth at2024 Skate Americaand win silver at the2024 Finlandia Trophy.