Aurora Cotop (born July 13, 2002) is a retired Canadian figure skater. She is the 2019 Bavarian Open bronze medalist and 2019 Canadian national silver medalist. Earlier in her career, she won the junior ladies' title at the 2017 Canadian Championships and competed in the final segment at the 2018 World Junior Championships.

Personal life Cotop was born on July 13, 2002, in Toronto, Ontario, Canada. She is of Romanian descent.

Career

Early years Cotop began learning to skate in 2005. She won the novice ladies' title at the 2016 Canadian Championships and the junior ladies' title the following year, at the 2017 Canadian Championships.

2017–2018 season Cotop made her ISU Junior Grand Prix (JGP) debut in August, placing seventh in Brisbane, Australia. In October, she finished ninth at her second JGP assignment, in Gdańsk, Poland. Competing in the senior ranks, she won gold at the Skate Canada Challenge in December. As a result, she qualified to compete on the same level at the 2018 Canadian Championships, where she would place fifth.

She was then selected to represent Canada at the 2018 World Junior Championships in Sofia. In Bulgaria, she qualified to the free skate by placing twenty-first in the short program and went on to finish seventeenth overall. Following this, Cotop decided to move to Edmonton to train with Ravi Walia, the coach of Olympic and World medalist Kaetlyn Osmond.

2018–2019 season Cotop's move to Edmonton was complicated by a pelvic fracture and bone marrow edema which limited her jump content. She placed eleventh at her lone JGP assignment, the 2018 JGP Slovenia, and subsequently withdrew from what would have been her senior debut on the ISU Challenger Series. In December 2018, Cotop finished fourth at the Skate Canada Challenge.

In January, she won silver at the 2019 Canadian Championships after placing sixth in the short program and second in the free skate. Cotop praised her new coach Walia, and said her free skate that it was "one of my best programs, because my run-throughs weren’t as good, so I feel like I sort of rose to the occasion." Despite finishing in second place, Cotop lacked the senior technical minimums required to compete at the remaining senior ISU Championships for the season. Skate Canada subsequently assigned her to the Bavarian Open, in the hopes of obtaining them. She won the bronze medal at the Bavarian Open, placing third in both segments, and obtaining the necessary technical minimum scores. Cotop called the result "pretty good", but said she still needed to work on integrated more triple jumps into her program, in particular the Lutz.

On February 22, Skate Canada formally assigned Cotop to the Canadian team for the 2019 World Championships in Saitama, Japan.

2019–2020 season After placing first in her domestic summer competition, complications from a groin tendon injury forced Cotop to withdraw from her initial planned Challenger assignment, the Nebelhorn Trophy, as well as the 2019 Skate Canada International.

While recovering from her groin injury, Cotop began to experience serious back pain. She attempted to compete at the 2020 Canadian Championships, but withdrew after placing twelfth in the short program.

Programs Season Short program Free skating Exhibition 2019–2020 Moonlight Sonata Romeo and Juliet Fantasy Overture Dance of the Knights Love Theme Tainted Love 2018–2019 Arrival of the Birds Blackbird W.E. Evgeni's Waltz Revolving Doors Letters 2017–2018 Habanera Clair de lune Get the Party Started

Competitive highlights GP: Grand Prix; CS: Challenger Series; JGP: Junior Grand Prix

International Event 16–17 17–18 18–19 Worlds 35th Bavarian Open 3rd International: Junior Junior Worlds 17th Australia 7th Poland 9th Slovenia 11th Autumn Classic 1st Bavarian Open 4th National Canadian Champ. 1st J 5th 2nd Levels: N = Novice; J = Junior TBD = Assigned; WD = Withdrew

Detailed results Senior level 2019–20 season Date Event SP FS Total January 13–19, 2019 2020 Canadian Championships 12 49.42 WD — WD —

Junior level

2018–19 season Date Event Level SP FS Total March 18–24, 2019 2019 World Championships Senior 35 48.83 — 35 48.83 January 16–22, 2019 2019 Bavarian Open Senior 3 55.52 3 107.04 3 162.56 January 13–20, 2019 2019 Canadian Championships Senior 6 58.98 2 110.37 2 169.35 October 3–6, 2018 2018 Junior Grand Prix in Slovenia Junior 11 46.30 12 87.95 11 134.25 2017–18 season Date Event Level SP FS Total March 5–11, 2018 2018 World Junior Championships Junior 21 49.15 17 92.49 17 141.64 January 8–14, 2018 2018 Canadian Championships Senior 14 48.83 5 108.06 5 156.89 October 13–16, 2017 2017 Junior Grand Prix in Poland Junior 8 48.70 12 84.94 9 133.64 September 23–26, 2017 2017 Junior Grand Prix in Australia Junior 9 43.39 6 96.75 7 140.14 2016–17 season Date Event Level SP FS Total February 14–19, 2017 2017 Bavarian Open Junior 3 54.15 4 91.85 4 146.00 January 16–22, 2017 2017 Canadian Junior Championships Junior 1 59.55 1 103.56 1 163.11 September 29 – October 1, 2016 2017 Bavarian Open Junior 3 47.06 1 92.50 1 139.56

References

External links

Aurora Cotop at Skate Canada.