Sergei Evgenyevich Voronov (Russian: Серге́й Евгеньевич Воронов; born October 3, 1987) is a retired Russian figure skater. He is the 2017 ISU Grand Prix NHK Trophy winner, a two-time European medalist (2014 silver, 2015 bronze), the 2014–15 Grand Prix Final bronze medalist, a two-time World Junior medalist (2006 silver, 2007 bronze), and a two-time Russian national champion (2008, 2009).
Personal life
Sergei Evgenyevich Voronov was born in 1987 in Moscow.[1] The International Skating Union gives October as his month of birth while the Russian skating federation lists November.[1][2]
Career
Early years
Voronov began skating in 1991. He broke his collarbone two years later while skating.[3] Voronov was coached by Rafael Arutyunyan in Moscow until 2000 when Arutyunyan moved to the U.S.[4][5] Voronov decided to move to Saint Petersburg where he was coached by Galina Kashina for two years and then switched to Alexei Urmanov.[5]
Voronov withdrew from the 2005 World Junior Championships after the qualifying round due to an injury which kept him off the ice for three months.[6] He had placed sixth in the qualifying round.[7]
In the 2009–10 season, Voronov was assigned to the 2009 Cup of China, where he took bronze, and 2009 Trophée Eric Bompard, where he was sixth. He won the silver medal at the 2010 Russian national championships. Voronov was sent to Europeans but his 14th-place result led Russia to assign the country's second men's spot at the Olympics and Worlds to Russian national bronze medalist Artem Borodulin (along with Evgeni Plushenko). Plushenko's withdrawal from the 2010 World Championships due to injury allowed Voronov to be called up as a late replacement. Voronov would place 14th. This placement, along with Borodulin's withdrawal during the competition, meant Russia would have one men's berth to the 2011 World Championships. At the end of the season, he left coach Alexei Urmanov and moved back to Moscow to be coached by Nikolai Morozov.[9][10]
2010–11 season
For the 2010–11 season, Voronov was assigned to the 2010 Cup of China and the 2010 Trophée Eric Bompard. He was injured during the short program at Cup of China and withdrew from the event and from Trophee Bompard. He competed at Russian Nationals where he placed 10th in the short program, 3rd in the long, and 4th overall, just 0.27 points off the podium.
Voronov won the bronze medal at the 2012 Cup of China, his third Grand Prix medal. He finished 7th at the 2012 NHK Trophy and won the silver medal at the 2013 Russian Championships. On 4 April 2013, Morozov confirmed that Voronov had left his group.[12]
In the 2014–15 season,[14] Voronov's first assignment was the 2014 Rostelecom Cup; he won the silver medal, behind Spain's Javier Fernández. After taking silver at the 2014 NHK Trophy, he qualified to his first Grand Prix Final. At the Final, he was awarded the bronze medal behind gold medalist Yuzuru Hanyu and silver medalist Fernández.
Voronov won silver at the 2015 Russian Championships behind Maxim Kovtun and was sent to the 2015 European Championships, where he took bronze behind Fernandez (gold) and Kovtun (silver). With that, he ranked second in the ISU World Standings for men's singles with 3839 points, behind Yuzuru Hanyu.[15] Voronov competed at the 2015 World Championships in Shanghai with an aggravated knee injury.[16] He placed fourth in the short program, 17th in the long, and 13th overall.
In November 2017 Voronov won his first Grand Prix series gold medal when he won the 2017 NHK Trophy with a personal best score of 271.12 points. He then won the bronze medal at the 2017 Skate America. These results qualified him to the 2017–18 Grand Prix Final where he placed 4th after placing 5th in the short program and 5th in the free skate.
In December 2017 Voronov placed 4th at the 2018 Russian Championships after placing 4th in the short program and 3rd in the free skate.
2018–19 season
Voronov started his season in mid September by competing at the 2018 CS Ondrej Nepela Trophy, where he won the silver medal behind his teammate Mikhail Kolyada. In October Voronov won the bronze medal at the 2018 Skate America. In early November Voronov competed at his second Grand Prix event, the 2018 NHK Trophy. He was ranked second in both programs and won the silver medal behind Shoma Uno. With one silver medal and one bronze medal he qualified for the 2018–19 Grand Prix Final, where he finished sixth.
Voronov's season ended prematurely when an injury compelled him to withdraw from the Russian Championships.[18]
On September 11, 2020, Voronov announced his retirement from competitive figure skating.[21]
Post-competitive career
Voronov briefly coached Evgenia Tarasova / Vladimir Morozov for the duration of the 2020–21 figure skating season. In the fall of 2021, he was invited by Oksana Ten, the then Vice President of the National Skating Federation of the Republic of Kazakhstan and mother of the late Denis Ten, to become head coach of the Kazakhstan figure skating team at the Denis Ten Academy. Among his students included Dias Jirenbayev. However, Ten and Voronov would soon receive criticism from members of the Kazkhstani skating community, including former World medalist, Elizabet Tursynbaeva, due allegedly using their power to favor the students training at the Denis Ten Academy. This accusation came after reigning national champion, Mikhail Shaidorov, who was not assigned to the 2021 CS Nebelhorn Trophy, the final qualifying event for the 2022 Winter Olympics. Voronov's student, Dias Jirenbayev, was instead assigned and placed twenty-seventh, thus failing to qualify a spot for Kazakhstani men singles skaters to compete at the Olympics. This culminated in Voronov receiving disturbing phone calls with threats on his life. Shaidorov's coach, Alexei Urmanov, would later dispute these claims, saying that it had been his and Shaidorov's decision to not send Shaidorov to any Olympic qualifying events due to him recovering from a back injury as well as physically and mentally unprepared to skate an Olympic level.[22][23]
Voronov would eventually resign from his position and became the senior coach of the Belarusian national team in June 2023. After one year, however, it was announced that Voronov had returned to Moscow to coach at the Tchaikovsky Konyok Skating School.[24]
^ abВоронов Сергей Евгеньевич [Sergei Evgenyevich Voronov] (in Russian). Russian Figure Skating Federation. Archived from the original on 28 September 2014.
