Mukhortova was born in Saint Petersburg but began skating in her father's hometown of Lipetsk when she was 6 years old.[1] She became attracted to pair skating, however, there were no related opportunities in Lipetsk so her mother took her back to Saint Petersburg when she was thirteen.[1][2]
Career
Early career
Mukhortova and Maxim Trankov trained in the same practice group under coaches Ludmila Velikova and Nikolai Velikov, but with different partners.[1] Mukhortova first competed with Pavel Lebedev during the 2001–02 and the 2002–03 season, skating with him on the ISU Junior Grand Prix and finishing fourth at the 2002 and 2003 World Junior Championships. The pair had frequent arguments but due to good results, Mukhortova initially declined to switch partners, however, a year later in 2003, she accepted Trankov's suggestion to skate together.[1][3]
In the 2006–07 season, Mukhortova and Trankov won the 2007 Russian Nationals, but were forced to miss the Europeans after she suffered an injury in practice. They returned in time for the 2007 Worlds, moving up one place to 11th. The following season, they won the silver medal at the 2008 Europeans and finished 7th at the 2008 Worlds. They had to take a short break in the middle of their long program at Worlds because Trankov was suffering from swelling in his arm, but returned to complete their skate after some alterations to his costume.[1]
In May 2010, it was announced that she had teamed up with Jérôme Blanchard to compete for Russia.[8] At the 2011 Russian Championships, they finished 7th overall. In February 2011, their coach Oleg Vasiliev said they had taken some time off due to funding issues.[9] On March 4, Vasiliev confirmed their partnership had ended; Mukhortova would consider competing with a new partner or move into show skating.[10] Mukhortova joined the Russian Ice Stars in 2011.[11][12]
