page_title: Yuko Kavaguti
section_title: 2011–12 season
hierarchical_section_title: Yuko Kavaguti / Partnership with Alexander Smirnov / 2011–12 season
caption_attribution_description: English: 2011 Cup of Russia, short program.
context_page_description: Yuko Kavaguti is a pair skater who has represented Japan and Russia in international competition. In 2006, she began competing with Alexander Smirnov for Russia. They are two-time European champions, two-time World bronze medalists, two-time ISU Grand Prix Final bronze medalists, and three-time Russian national champions. In 2015, they became the first pair in history to complete two quadruple throw jumps in one program and the first to land a quadruple throw loop.
context_section_description: For the 2011–2012 season, Kavaguti/Smirnov took up the new option to compete at three Grand Prix events. They easily won their first event at the 2011 Cup of China finishing first in both the short program and free skate to win the event with a total score of 186.74. Their next event was at the 2011 NHK Trophy in Sapporo, Japan. In the short program, Kavaguti's fall on an under-rotated triple toe loop combined with several elements receiving lower levels left the pair in 5th place with a score of 55.02. They placed first in the free skate and won the gold medal with a total score of 177.51 over reigning World Champions Aliona Savchenko / Robin Szolkowy. The win qualified them for the Grand Prix Final. At the 2011 Cup of Russia, the pair were second after the short program with a score of 65.17. They finished second with a total score of 197.84. It was their sixth consecutive medal at the Cup of Russia. At the Grand Prix Final, they placed fourth in the short program with a score of 61.37 and third in the free skate with 126.40, winning the bronze medal with a total of 187.77. It was the pair's first-ever medal at the Grand Prix Final.
  On 20 December 2011, Moskvina said they had requested to be excused from the 2012 Russian Championships to allow Smirnov to heal from a knee injury which arose before the Grand Prix Final. On 4 January 2012, Smirnov had emergency surgery to remove his appendix and an intestinal hernia. Since he was unable to recover in time for the pair to compete at the European Championships in Sheffield, Great Britain from 23–29 January they were replaced by Ksenia Stolbova / Fedor Klimov.
  At the 2012 World Championships in Nice France, Kavaguti/Smirnov were skating well during their short program until a bad fall at the end of a lift put them in 11th place with a score of 59.59. This was 12 weeks to the day after Smirnov's surgery. During their free program, an aborted lift received no points and the couple earned a score of 122.83 and earned 4th place in the free skate. With the errors of the two lifts in both programs they were unable to medal and earned a combined total of 182.42 and were in 7th place, 7.28 points away from a medal.
caption: Kavaguti/Smirnov during the short program at the 2011 Rostelecom Cup
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