Nikolai Mikhailovich Ugozhaev (Russian: Николай Михайлович Угожаев, born 15 June 2006) is a Russian figure skater who currently competes as an Individual Neutral Athlete. He is the 2024 Cup of Russia stage in Krasnoyarsk champion, 2025 Russian Jumping Championship champion, 2022 Russian Junior Championship silver medalist, 2024 Final Cup of Russia juniors bronze medalist.
Personal life Ugozhaev was born on 15 June 2006 in Novosibirsk, Russia. His grandfather, Vladimir Ugozhaev, is a physicist. He invented rotationally tunable double-beam interferometer.
Nikolai's height is 183 cm.
Career
Early years Ugozhaev started figure skating at the age of 4. His first coach was Marina Yazovtseva. At the age of 10, Nikolai moved to St. Petersburg. Veronika Daineko became his coach at the skating club Star Ice. In 2017, Ugozhaev and Daineko moved to FS Sport Club of Tamara Moskvina. Later, Ugozhaev moved to coach Dmitri Khromin at the same club.
2018–2019 season In the 2018–19 season, Ugozhaev made his debut at the Russian Junior Cup stages and took 6th and 9th places. This result did not allow to qualify for the Russian Junior Championship and the Russian Junior Cup Final.
2019–2020 season Ugozhaev started his season with a silver medal at the Russian Junior Cup stage. At this tournament he landed combination Triple Axel - Triple Toe Loop. But he missed the rest of the season.
2020–2021 season In the 2020–21 season, Ugozhaev won the Russian Junior Cup stage for the first time. At another stage, he won a bronze medal and qualified for the Russian Junior Championship and the Russian Junior Cup Final. At his debut Russian Junior Championship, Ugozhaev took 5th place. At the Russian Junior Cup Final, Ugozhaev won a bronze medal. He was leading after the short program, but finished fourth in the free skate and dropped to third in the final standings.
2021–2022 season In the first part of the season, Ugozhaev won gold and silver at the Russian Junior Cup stages. He also made his international debut, finishing 4th at the Denis Ten Memorial Challenge among juniors. In February 2022, Nikolai won the Jégvirág Cup among juniors. At the Russian Junior Championships, Ugozhaev won a silver medal. But after that he performed poorly at the Russian Junior Cup Final and took only 11th place.
2022–2023 season In the 2022–23 season, Nikolai won silver and bronze at the Russian Junior Cup stages. At the Russian Junior Championships, Ugozhaev took 6th place and landed a Quad Toe Loop. At the Russian Junior Cup Final, he took 5th place and landed Quad Lutz.
2023–2024 season This season was Ugozhaev's last at the junior level. Nikolai won his first stage of the Russian Junior Cup in the 2023–24 season and landed Quad Flip. At another stage he won silver. 10th place at the Russian Junior Championships was the worst result in Ugozhaev's career. He was in 2nd place after the short program, but only finished 15th in the free skate. But at the Russian Junior Cup Final, Nikolai landed Quad Lutz, Quad Flip and two Triple Axels in his free program and won bronze with a score of 270.03 points.
2024–2025 season The first tournament of the season for Ugozhaev was the St. Petersburg Cup stage. He won gold and also landed two quads in the short program and three quads in the free skate. At the Panin-Kolomenkin Memorial, Nikolai landed cleanly 4 out of 5 quads in two programs and 1 quad landed with a small mistake, but did the other elements better, including three Triple Axels, and scored 303.45 points. In the free program, he landed three different quads, Toe Loop, Lutz and Flip for the first time. At the debut stage of the Russian Сup at the senior level, Ugozhaev took 5th place. After that, Nikolai won his second stage of the Russian Cup, scoring 292.56 points.
Ugozhaev performed poorly at his debut Russian Championship, made many mistakes and finished in 14th place. But then he won the Russian Jumping Championship, beating Vladislav Dikidzhi, Evgeni Semenenko, Mark Kondratiuk, Petr Gumennik and other figure skaters from the Russian national team. At the Russian Cup final, Ugozhaev took 7th place.
2025–2026 season Ugozhaev placed 10th at the 2026 Russian Championships.
2026–2027 season On 30 June 2026, the International Skating Union announced that figure skaters from Russia and Belarus would be allowed to compete at international competitions as Individual Neutral Athletes (AINs). Each of these skaters are be required to undergo an individual assessment conducted by the ISU Council to determine whether they meet the criteria for neutral status. Ugozhaev's application was approved, making him eligible to compete internationally as a neutral athlete.
Programs Short ProgramFree skating2025–2026 au sommet de ma tourby LonepsiLes Boréades
RCT 31, Acte IV, Scène IV: Entrée pour les Muses, les Zéphyres, les Saisons, les Heures et les Arts RCT 44, Nouvelle entrée, Les sauvages, Scène VI: Rondeau - Duo et choeur "Forêts paisibles"by Teodor Currentzis2024–2025 In the End Saint Laurent Men's Spring/Summer'212023–2024 Nemesis2022–2023 Shape of My Heart Buenos Aires Hora Cero2021–2022 Iron Run Boy Run The Master and Margarita (soundtrack)2020–2021 Somebody To Love We Will Rock You Doing All Right2019-2020 Flamenco Io Ci Sarò2018–2019 Csárdás2017–2018 Nightmare Bahamut2016–2017
Competitive highlights
Skating as an Individual Neutral Athlete
Skating for Russia International: JuniorEvent 20–21 21–22 22–23 23–24 24–25 25–26Denis Ten Memorial Challenge 4th Jégvirág Cup 1st Russian–Chinese Winter Youth Games 3rd NationalRussian Champ. 14th 10thRussian Junior 5th 2nd 6th 10th Russian Cup Final 7th Russian Cup Junior Final 3rd 11th 5th 3rd
Detailed results
Senior
Skating as an Individual Neutral Athlete
Skating for Russia 2024–2025 seasonDateEventSPFSTotal14–16 February 20252025 Russian Grand Prix Final7 91.297 179.477 270.7619–22 December 20242025 Russian Championships15 67.4414 155.9114 223.35
Junior 2023–2024 seasonDateEventLevelSPFSTotal13–16 March 20242024 Russian Cup FinalJunior2 88.343 181.693 270.035–9 February 20242024 Russian Junior ChampionshipsJunior2 83.8315 138.7710 222.602022–2023 seasonDateEventLevelSPFSTotal1–3 March 20232023 Russian Cup FinalJunior3 80.885 161.265 242.1414–18 February 20232023 Russian Junior ChampionshipsJunior4 81.786 153.156 234.9314–20 December 20222022 Russian–Chinese Winter Youth GamesJunior3 62.063 133.203 195.262021–2022 seasonDateEventLevelSPFSTotal23–27 February 20222022 Russian Cup FinalJunior11 68.6611 133.5211 202.1811–13 February 20222022 Jégvirág CupJunior1 62.021 116.831 178.8518–22 January 20222022 Russian Junior ChampionshipsJunior6 79.873 147.952 227.8227–31 October 20212021 Denis Ten Memorial ChallengeJunior5 67.575 135.884 203.452020–2021 seasonDateEventLevelSPFSTotal26 Feb. – 2 Mar. 20212021 Russian Cup FinalJunior1 82.394 139.793 222.181–5 February 20212021 Russian Junior ChampionshipsJunior8 76.275 152.145 228.41
Notes
References