page_title: Nikita Katsalapov
section_title: 2019–20 season
hierarchical_section_title: Nikita Katsalapov / Partnership with Sinitsina / 2019–20 season
caption_attribution_description: Русский: Церемония награждения в танцах на льду на чемпионате Европы по фигурному катанию 2020
context_page_description: Nikita Gennadyevich Katsalapov is a Russian ice dancer. With Victoria Sinitsina, he is European Champion 2020, the 2019 World silver medalist, the 2018–19 Grand Prix Final silver medalist, and a two-time Russian national champion. They have also won several medals on the Grand Prix and the Challenger Series, including winning the 2018 CS Ondrej Nepela Trophy.
  With former partner Elena Ilinykh, he is a 2014 Olympic champion in the team event, a 2014 Olympic bronze medalist in ice dancing, a three-time European medalist, and the 2010 World Junior champion.
context_section_description: Sinitsina/Katsalapov started their season at the 2019 CS Ondrej Nepela Memorial, where they won the gold medal.  On the Grand Prix, they began at the 2019 Cup of China, where they placed first in the rhythm dance with a new personal best score.  The finished second in the free dance, behind Madison Chock/Evan Bates, but their rhythm dance lead was sufficient to give them the gold medal. Katsalapov said they were "not pleased with our performance today", and hoped that they would show improvement the following week.  At the 2019 Rostelecom Cup, they won the gold medal.  Katsalapov said they looked forward to showing their "very best" at the Grand Prix Final.  Competing at the Final, they unexpectedly placed fourth in the rhythm dance after a number of technical issues, leading him to comment "I made a mistake on the twizzles and realized that level would be definitely reduced. But looking at the points and levels, it seems that everything was bad."  In the free dance, they came sixth out of the six teams after losing levels on a number of elements and Sinitsina having a technical fall in their choreographic sliding movement, and dropped to sixth overall.
  Competing at the 2020 Russian Championships, Sinitsina/Katsalapov placed first in the rhythm dance despite a slight loss of balance by Katsalapov in his twizzle sequence.  Second in the free dance, they nevertheless won their second national title.
  In what would prove to be their final competition of the season, Sinitsina/Katsalapov competed at the 2020 European Championships in Graz.  After the rhythm dance, they were in second place, separated from five-time defending champions Papadakis/Cizeron by only 0.05 points.  In a close result, they won the free dance and took the title overall by a margin of 0.14 points.  This marked the first time anyone had beaten Papadakis/Cizeron since Virtue/Moir at the 2018 Winter Olympics, and the first time they had been defeated in the free dance since the 2016–17 Grand Prix Final.  The result was considered a major upset, with Katsalapov remarking "to get anywhere near Gabriella and Guillaume seemed impossible for all the skaters."
  The European result generated immediate speculation that Sinitsina/Katsalapov could challenge Papadakis/Cizeron for the World gold at the 2020 World Championships in Montreal, but these were cancelled as a result of the coronavirus pandemic.
caption: Sinitsina/Katsalapov claim gold at the 2020 European Championships
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