Jelizaveta Žuková or Elizaveta Valeriyevna Zhuk (Russian: Елизавета Валерьевна Жук; born 2 November 2003) is a former Russian-Czech pair skater who competes for the Czech Republic. With her skating partner, Martin Bidař, she is a two-time Czech national champion (2020–2021) and represented the Czech Republic at the 2022 Winter Olympics.
| Jelizaveta Žuková Elizaveta Zhuk | |||||||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Full name | Elizaveta Valeriyevna Zhuk | ||||||||
| Native name | Елизавета Валерьевна Жук (Russian) | ||||||||
| Other names | Yelizaveta Jelizaveta Žuk/Žuková | ||||||||
| Born | 2 November 2003 Yekaterinburg, Russia | ||||||||
| Height | 1.53 m (5 ft 0 in) | ||||||||
| Figure skating career | |||||||||
| Country |  Czech Republic | ||||||||
| Discipline | Pair skating | ||||||||
| Began skating | 2007 | ||||||||
| Retired | December 22, 2022 | ||||||||
| |||||||||
Personal life
editElizaveta Zhuk was born on 2 November 2003 in Yekaterinburg, Russia. In December 2021, she became a Czech citizen.[1] Her name changed to Jelizaveta Žuková, with a feminine suffix added to the Czech transliteration of her Russian name.
Career
editEarly career
editZhuk began learning to skate in 2007. Training in pairs, early partners included Maxim Miroshkin and Evgeniy Kostarev.[2] She competed with Egor Britkov for three seasons, placing fourth at the 2017 Russian Junior Championships and winning a silver medal at the 2017 CS Golden Spin of Zagreb the following season.[3]
2019–2020 season
editOn June 26, 2019, Zhuk announced a new partnership with Czech pair skater Martin Bidař, with plans to represent his country. They competed exclusively domestically in their first season together, winning the Czech national title.[4]
2020–2021 season
editWith the COVID-19 pandemic limiting international opportunities, Zhuk/Bidař made their debut internationally at the 2020 CS Nebelhorn Trophy, one of only four pairs on the preliminary entry list.[5] They were fifth in the short, fourth in the free, and fourth overall.[6] They subsequently competed at the 2021 World Championships, placing fifteenth and, in the process, qualifying for a berth for a Czech pair at the 2022 Winter Olympics.[4][7]
2021–2022 season
editIn September, the Czech federation officially named Zhuk/Bidař to the Czech Olympic team.[8] They made their debut at the 2021 CS Finlandia Trophy, where they placed ninth. They later competed at a second Challenger event, finishing twelfth at the 2021 CS Warsaw Cup.[4]
Zhuk opted to restyle her name as Jelizaveta Žuková in advance of the Olympics. Žuková/Bidař made their European Championships debut in Tallinn, finishing in twelfth place.[4]
Žuková/Bidař began the 2022 Winter Olympics as the Czech entries in the pairs' short program Olympic team event, where they placed eighth of nine, earning three points for the Czech team.[9] Team Czech Republic did not advance to the next stage of the competition and finished eighth overall.[10] With two falls in the short program of the pairs event, they finished seventeenth and were the first team to miss qualification for the free skate.[11] Žuková sustained an ankle injury in training, as a result of which they did not compete at the 2022 World Championships.[12]
In March 2022, Žuková liked an Instagram post by Evgeni Plushenko expressing support for the 2022 Russian invasion of Ukraine. The president of the Czech Figure Skating Association noted that the federation strongly disagreed with her position and distanced itself. The president explained to Žuková the unsuitability of her conduct and asked her to apologize for her decision. Žuková apologized, stating that her decision was due to "youthful recklessness" and "misreading and misunderstanding" the post; the president deemed the apology sufficient.[13]
2022–2023 season
editŽuková/Bidař were eighth at the 2022 CS Nebelhorn Trophy to start the season before placing sixth at the 2022 Skate Canada International.[4]
In December 2022, it was announced that the pair had parted ways.[14]
Programs
editWith Bidař
edit| Season | Short program | Free skating |
|---|---|---|
| 2022–2023 [15] |
|
|
| 2021–2022 [16] |
| |
| 2020–2021 [17] |
|
|
With Britkov
edit| Season | Short program | Free skating |
|---|---|---|
| 2017–2018 [18] |
|
|
Competitive highlights
editWith Bidař for the Czech Republic
edit| International[4] | ||||
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Event | 19–20 | 20–21 | 21–22 | 22–23 |
| Olympics | 17th | |||
| Worlds | 15th | WD | ||
| Europeans | 12th | |||
| GP Skate Canada | 6th | |||
| CS Finlandia Trophy | 9th | |||
| CS Nebelhorn Trophy | 4th | 8th | ||
| CS Warsaw Cup | 12th | |||
| Autumn Talents Cup | 1st | |||
| Challenge Cup | 4th | |||
| National[4] | ||||
| Czech Champ. | 1st | 1st | WD | |
| Team events | ||||
| Olympics | 8th T 8th P |
|||
With Britkov for Russia
edit| International: Junior[3] | |||
|---|---|---|---|
| Event | 2015–16 | 2016–17 | 2017–18 |
| Golden Spin | 2nd | ||
| National[3] | |||
| Russian Champ. | 9th | ||
| Russian Junior | 10th | 4th | |
Detailed results
editISU Personal Best highlighted in bold.
- With Bidař
| 2022–23 season | ||||
| Date | Event | SP | FS | Total |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| October 28–30, 2022 | 2022 Skate Canada International | 6 52.84 |
7 100.66 |
6 153.50 |
| September 21–24, 2022 | 2022 CS Nebelhorn Trophy | 9 49.67 |
8 97.65 |
8 147.32 |
| 2021–22 season | ||||
| Date | Event | SP | FS | Total |
| February 18–19, 2022 | 2022 Winter Olympics | 17 54.64 |
— |
17 54.64 |
| February 4–7, 2022 | 2022 Winter Olympics – Team event | 8 56.70 |
— | 8T |
| January 10–16, 2022 | 2022 European Championships | 15 54.40 |
10 105.33 |
12 159.73 |
| November 17–20, 2021 | 2021 CS Warsaw Cup | 8 60.88 |
12 96.25 |
12 157.13 |
| October 27–30, 2021 | 2021 Autumn Talents Cup | 1 46.96 |
1 91.44 |
1 138.40 |
| October 7–10, 2021 | 2021 CS Finlandia Trophy | 9 48.36 |
10 93.90 |
9 142.26 |
| 2020–21 season | ||||
| Date | Event | SP | FS | Total |
| March 22–28, 2021 | 2021 World Championships | 16 54.30 |
15 102.99 |
15 157.29 |
| February 26–28, 2021 | 2021 Challenge Cup | 5 54.13 |
4 108.98 |
4 163.11 |
| December 10–12, 2020 | 2021 Czech Championships | 1 55.83 |
1 87.67 |
1 143.50 |
| September 23–26, 2020 | 2020 CS Nebelhorn Trophy | 5 51.20 |
4 91.83 |
4 143.03 |
| 2019–20 season | ||||
| Date | Event | SP | FS | Total |
| December 13–14, 2019 | 2020 Czech Championships Domestic event |
1 49.12 |
1 94.47 |
1 143.59 |
References
edit- ^ "Krasobruslařka Žuková má české občanství a může s Bidařem na ZOH". idnes.cz (in Czech). 22 December 2021. Archived from the original on 22 December 2021.
- ^ "Жук Елизавета Валерьевна" [Zhuk Elizaveta Valeriyevna]. fskate.ru (in Russian). Archived from the original on 14 May 2019.
- ^ a b c "Competition Results: Elizaveta ZHUK / Egor BRITKOV". International Skating Union.
- ^ a b c d e f g "Competition Results: Elizaveta ZHUK / Martin BIDAR". International Skating Union.
- ^ "2020 NEBELHORN TROPHY". International Figure Skating. September 19, 2020. Archived from the original on March 22, 2021. Retrieved September 28, 2021.
- ^ "ISU CS Nebelhorn Trophy 2020 Results". International Skating Union.
- ^ "Communication No. 2388". International Skating Union. April 1, 2021.
- ^ Czech Figure Skating (27 September 2021). "ak ještě jednou i s grafikou!💪 Natálie Taschlerová a Filip Taschler jedou na Olympiádu! Hezky se to čte, že?😍🤩 Tak si to pojďme shrnout – čtyři kategorie, čtyři čeští zástupci.💙🇨🇿" (Instagram). Archived from the original on 2021-12-26.
- ^ Slater, Paula (February 4, 2022). "Team USA leads Olympic Figure Skating Team Event". Golden Skate.
- ^ Slater, Paula (February 7, 2022). "ROC wins Olympic figure skating team event". Golden Skate.
- ^ Penny, Brandon (February 18, 2022). "Re-live the record-setting Olympic pairs short program". NBC Sports.
- ^ "Sportovní dvojice Žuková, Bidař nebude závodit na MS ve Francii. Za vše může zranění" [Sports pair Žuková, Bidař will not compete at the World Championships in France. Injury is to blame]. Czech Television (in Czech). March 16, 2022.
- ^ "Žuková lituje svého lajku na sociálních sítích, svaz je proti agresi Ruska" [Žuková regrets her likes on social media, the federation is against Russia's aggression] (in Czech). Czech Figure Skating Association. 2 March 2022.
- ^ "Split". Instagram. Instagram. Retrieved 14 August 2023.
- ^ "Elizaveta ZHUK / Martin BIDAR: 2022/2023". International Skating Union. Archived from the original on 1 November 2022.
- ^ "Elizaveta ZHUK / Martin BIDAR: 2021/2022". International Skating Union. Archived from the original on 20 September 2021.
- ^ "Elizaveta ZHUK / Martin BIDAR: 2020/2021". International Skating Union. Archived from the original on 3 June 2021.
- ^ "Elizaveta ZHUK / Egor BRITKOV: 2017/2018". International Skating Union.
