Meet Nikita Sheiko and his skating family: “This season, we want medals on the Junior Grand Prix circuit, not just participate”

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Who is this teenager, only 16 years of age, but so mature and so ambitious?

The surprise winner of the European Youth Olympic Festival, in 2023, in Pontebba, Italy. A customary medalist of every event he entered at junior level – whether it’s Abu Dhabi Classic Figure Skating Trophy in UAE, Volvo Open Cup in Latvia, Santa Claus Cup in Hungary or EduSport Trophy in Romania, where Nikita won the last two editions of the competition.

A debutant on the Junior Grand Prix circuit last season, finishing 11th in Linz and 7th in Osaka, a debut he finds below standard and his own expectations – he talks about performances in those events in terms like “not that good” or “really, really bad”, a choice of words that speaks mountains of his ambitions.

In short, the Israeli skater that ran away with our attention – undoubtedly, a talent on the rise.

And one that we could notice at first hand in Otopeni, Romania, at the 5th and 6th edition of EduSport Trophy.

January 2023: Nikita Sheiko, winning the junior category in Otopeni, at EduSport Trophy

December 2023: Nikita repeating as EduSport Trophy junior champion – the height difference can’t go unnoticed.

But there’s so much more to it than what you see: Nikita comes from a full-blooded skating family, if you allow the metaphor.

His parents and coaches, Julia and Sergei, skated at the highest level in the pairs’ discipline and his younger brother Kirill took up skating too when he was 3, just like Nikita.

Father and coach Sergei Sheiko makes a well-fitting joke during our talk, and Nikita translates it with a laughter: “Yes, we pretty much didn’t have a baby-sitter, so our parents would take us to the ice with them”.

Half-serious, half-funny and relaxed, but all in all so candid and affectionate, considerate, that’s how our conversation with Nikita and his father went.

At the end of it, just like us, you’ll find out so much more about the teenager Nikita Sheiko, and so much more about the family itself.

And you’ll be readier and eager to greet all four of them this season, when both of the Sheiko boys will share the junior stage, and the youngest, Kirill, can’t wait to measure his strength against Nikita.

He already does that in practices at home, in Eilat.

Nikita shares, his father laughs: “Kirill is always, you know, the annoying one in trainings, like: Look, I’m better! It’s like a competition in the practices as well”.

A competition that makes both of them better skaters with every day that passes.

***

by Florentina Tone

***

A SKATING FAMILY OF FOUR

Join us in this journey, will you?

December 2023, Otopeni, Romania.

You see them from afar, whether it’s in the crowded lobby of Allianz-Tiriac Arena, full of hopes, emotions, rosy cheeks; or near the boards, or in the Kiss and Cry: the four of them, a skating family.

Nikita and Kirill (15 and 12 at the time), their parents and coaches Julia and Sergei.

They travel from Eilat, Israel, their home and the home of their skating club, Eilat City Figure Skating Club, and they feel like traditional guests of EduSport Trophy in Romania already.

They’ve been here in January 2023, for the fifth edition of the competition, they came back in December for the sixth one – and both Nikita and Kirill repeated as champions in their respective categories: Nikita on the junior level, Kirill as advanced novice, while still recovering from a bad knee injury.

And it’s so easy to see: the parents and the boys seem so at ease in the environment of this small, relaxed international competition in Otopeni, Romania.

They know the rink and the near-by hotel by heart, people know them too, and younger Kirill comes from time to time to ask the organizers this and that.

One day, his phone is missing, it fell between the boards – and so he asks for help. Another time, he wants some arms to raise him, or just a pair of eyes at altitude: he wants to read the schedule of the day, posted on a glass door, and he’s too short to read it by himself.

Followed by many pairs of eyes while at the rink, the brothers share everyone’s affection, the stardom, the emotions of the competition – and even the bench in the Kiss and Cry while waiting for each other’s scores. As they always do in the events they attend together, a trademark of the Sheiko family.

Nikita and Kirill Sheiko (EduSport Trophy, Otopeni, Romania, December 2023)

THE EUROPEAN YOUTH OLYMPIC CHAMPION

One thing that’s changed in the 10 months or so that passed since their previous visit to Romania?

Nikita is a head taller, and that growth spurt brought along some challenges along the way, we’ll find out soon enough.

Some other notable changes in between two editions of EduSport Trophy?

The same Nikita won gold at 2023 European Youth Olympic Festival (EYOF) in Pontebba, Italy, surpassing many other well-established juniors in the process and debuting in style on the world stage. [That win was a surprise for the entire family, you’ll see.]

What hasn’t changed though is the impression Nikita made on everyone see him compete: a talented skater, with a bright future ahead.

And since the future is already in the making, and since Nikita Sheiko’s young skating career made a few stops in Otopeni, what better opportunity to get to know him better, to get to know all of them better?

And so, right after the junior men’s medal ceremony at EduSport Trophy – the 6th edition, we meet Nikita and his father Sergei for an extensive talk, while the other half, Julia and younger Kirill, have taken the train to Bucharest, for an extensive visit at the Christmas Fair.

Nikita and his father will join them right after – after all, skating is their life, but their life is not just about skating.

[There’s a take on that from Sergei Sheiko that you don’t want to miss – so keep on reading.]

THE YOUNG YET VERY PROMISING CAREER OF NIKITA SHEIKO, AS NARRATED BY THE PROTAGONIST HIMSELF

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During our talk with Nikita (that gets to have a surprise sequel too), we discover a very mature young man, and wise beyond his years. Very articulate – and very modest too.

We ask about beginnings, how come he took up skating, and he talks about family.

In short: things couldn’t have happened any other way.

“Our journey was pretty much obvious: our whole family is involved in skating. My parents skated at a really high level: my father went to the Olympics, my mother was 3rd in Junior Worlds – it’s just that skating is connected to my family. Mom skated for Russia, dad for Belarus, and when they had children, it was obvious they’ll skate as well”.

We turn to skating history and the statistics of the sport, in search of Nikita’s parents.

Born in Minsk, Belarus, Sergei Sheiko skated in pairs with Elena Grigoreva, with whom he represented the country at 1993 and 1994 European and World Figure Skating Championships, but also at 1994 Winter Olympics in Lillehammer, Norway.

It was the time of legends, if you allow the accolade: Ekaterina Gordeeva and Sergei Grinkov would win the Olympic gold medal that year, followed by teammates Natalia Mishkutenok and Artur Dimitriev, with the bronze medal won by Isabelle Brasseur and Lloyd Eisler. At the time, the future 2002 Olympic champion Elena Berezhnaya was still skating for Latvia, with Oleg Shliakov; and future 2002 Olympic champion Jamie Salé was taking the ice with Jason Turner.

As for Nikita’s mom, Julia Sheiko, she was Julia Shapiro back in the days and she was also a pair skater.

Earlier in her career, Julia represented Russia with Igor Petrov, Alexei Sokolov, Dmitri Khromin.

With Sokolov, Julia is the 2000 World junior bronze medalist – a competition that took place in Oberstdorf, Germany, and which was won by Aliona Savchenko and Stanislav Morozov representing Ukraine.

From 2002 to 2005, Julia Shapiro competed with Vadim Akolzin for Israel, taking part in Grand Prix events, European and World Championships and finishing 10th at 2005 Europeans in Turin, Italy.

Husband and wife for quite a while now, and having their own skating school based at the Ice Mall in Eilat, Julia and Sergei Sheiko are also coaching their two boys, with great success already.

Is it fair to say Nikita and Kirill grew up with ice under their feet?

Sergei Sheiko answers with a laughter, Nikita smiles back and translates: “Yes, we pretty much didn’t have a baby sitter, so our parents would take us to the ice with them”.

Nikita and his father & coach Sergei Sheiko, at the 6th edition of EduSport Trophy in Otopeni, Romania (December 2023)

Born in March 2008, Nikita learned to skate when he was 3 “and it became a sport to me when I was 5, maybe 6”.

The starting point of his skating journey, as he remembers it?

The northernmost town in Israel, Metula, where Sheiko family lived at the time. “And then, when I was 4 or 5, we went to Eilat, because an ice rink opened there”.

And there’s this layer of seriousness from Nikita that you just can’t overlook: “Skating is pretty much everything for me, I can’t imagine my life without it”.

As for the younger Kirill, born in January 2011, he just followed the same path.

“For as long as I remember, he was skating too”, Nikita says. But there’s a twist to it, and the elder brother recounts it with a smile: “Actually, when my parents started the club in Eilat, my brother and I were like the last… even the worst in our club”.

Not the case nowadays, when the two Sheiko brothers podium at almost every competition they enter.

EYES ON YUZURY HANYU, NATHAN CHEN, ADAM SIAO HIM FA, YUMA KAGIYAMA

Nikita’s first notable skating memory? His first ever competition, the teenager says with a smile.

“It was at my home rink, I was maybe 4 or 5. I was really, really small, I didn’t even jump – there were just some crossovers and that’s it”.

At 10, he was skating to music from “The Greatest Showman Part One”, a program that he’s deeply fond of, “the first one that Igor Tchiniaev choreographed for me” – and his eyes were already set on Yuzuru Hanyu performing his trademark “Seimei” free skate at 2018 Olympics in PyeongChang.

“Just like everyone else at the time, I looked up to Yuzuru. I remember myself always wanting to skate like him”.

With the years, the seasons, the picture got wider, bigger: he started admiring Nathan Chen as well, with a soft spot for Nathan’s short program set to “La Bohème”.

And now? Nikita’s answer comes fast: he roots for the Frenchman Adam Siao Him Fa.

“I’d say Adam is my favorite – his programs are just something else”.

As a matter of fact, our talk with Nikita took place right during the 2023/2024 Grand Prix Final in Beijing, in between the men’s short program and the free: Adam Siao Him Fa had missed the quad Lutz in his short, “I hope he’ll do better tomorrow”, while Ilia Malinin had become the talk of the town with his quadruple Axel as the unexpected surprise of his short program.

“We were in the dressing room yesterday, getting ready for our programs, me and my friend Vadym [Novikov], we were putting our skates, and the phone was there, and we watched Ilia… No one expected he would jump the quad Axel in the short!”, Nikita bursts.

But while he admires this extraordinary feat of Ilia, for now he doesn’t aspire to have this particular jump in his repertoire.

“I think I’d like to have more like… Yuma Kagiyama’s jumps. Maybe less complicated, but more GOE-s – they just look prettier. So I’m looking for something more like Yuma’s”.

And that goes well with the kind of skater Nikita aspires to be: “more to the PCS-side”.

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“I JUST DID WHAT I COULD”. COMPETITIVE HIGHLIGHTS & GOALS

We mentioned it already: Nikita Sheiko is the 2023 European Youth Olympic champion – and the teenager himself points at this result as the one he’s most proud of, as the competition he remembers the most.

But he also describes it with the utmost sincerity, exactly as it was.

“No one expected me to win the European Youth Olympics. It was a surprise that I did”.

For everyone, including himself and his team.

His realistic expectations going into EYOF in 2023?

“5th place, 6th place, something like that. Because there were really good boys there, like Naoki Rossi from Switzerland… There were a lot of good skaters, and some of them jumped the triple Axel, and some even quads”.

January 2023: Nikita Sheiko wins gold at the European Youth Olympic Festival in Pontebba, Italy

And how come did he win? How would he explain it, looking in retrospect?

Nikita’s answers strikes you with its honesty.

“Well, everyone didn’t do so well – and I just did what I could. I actually won with a difference of 1.5 points”.

You see him smiling – and you smile back. Still 14 when EYOF happened, in January 2023, Nikita made quite an entrance onto the big stage, considering he hadn’t debuted on the junior Grand Prix circuit at the time.

He would do that the following season, find himself among the competitors of 2023 Junior Grand Prix event in Linz, Austria, where he finished 11th; and on the roster of 2023 Junior Grand Prix event in Osaka, Japan, finishing 7th.

He isn’t happy with those results and he doesn’t offer himself any excuses.

“My short program in Linz was really, really bad: I didn’t do the Lutz, and then the combo either”. Yes, he was 11th out of the 21 competing in Austria, “but for me it’s not that good – because next year I’m hoping to get medals on the Junior Grand Prix circuit. I’m working now on having consistent triple Axel-s and, maybe, getting my quad Sal”.

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Nikita and his mom, Julia Sheiko, at 2023 Junior Grand Prix in Linz, Austria

But something good did happen in between those two events, Nikita acknowledges, managing to see the bigger picture.

“I actually jumped the triple Axel for the first time in between Linz and Osaka. After Linz, we came back, we had like 14 days of training and on day 9, five days before Osaka, I jumped my first triple Axel”.

It’s a love-hate relationship with that jump still, Nikita laughs heartily when asked to name his favorite element.

“Well, when I do the triple Axel, it’s my favorite one. And sometimes it’s my least favorite one. Because I can come to my practice at 5 am and, like, can’t even do one. And I come at 5 pm, and I do all of them, like 10 out of 10. So, yes, sometimes it’s my favorite, and sometimes it’s my most hated one”.

***

At the time of our talk, Nikita’s eyes were set on 2024 Bavarian Open in Oberstdorf, Germany, where the Israeli skater going to Junior Worlds was meant to be decided: “I see myself and Tamir [Kuperman] competing pretty close. Whoever wins there will go to Junior Worlds in Taiwan – so I have to get really good consistency until Oberstdorf”.

But the thing is, Nikita Sheiko saw (way) past that event.

“This season, my goal is to get the triple Axel consistent, and then do the quad until the next Junior Grand Prix season. And if were talking more about forward goals, I have four more seasons left in juniors, so, maybe, get much higher in the rankings, get some World medals… In seniors, I want to be invited to the Grand Prix Series… and I want to be Olympic champion, as everyone would say”.

The Israeli teenager seems rather shy to say this out loud, but he wants you to understand it: of course he wants that too. But he’s cleverly listing all the steps to get there, instead of only naming his Olympic wish.

***

And this could have (fittingly) been the end of our talk – except it wasn’t.

A treat of a conversation follows, shedding even more light to this young man and the dynamics of a family that not only aims to raise good skaters, but also “good people”.

SAME STORY, TWO VOICES. FATHER’S PERSPECTIVE ADDS RICHNESS, DETAILS

Family portrait at the end of EduSport Trophy, in Otopeni, Romania

Waiting around for Nikita to get his EduSport Trophy gold medal, and then for him to finish answering our questions, father and coach Sergei Sheiko gladly joins our endeavor to get to know better his elder son.

And what is meant to be a conversation with the father only becomes a story on two voices: Nikita offers to be the impromptu translator – something he hadn’t done before, hence the smiles and the laughter throughout… – so that his father could talk, relaxed, in his native language.

And this proves to be the best part of our encounter, really: seeing this father-son, coach-student connection shaping itself in front of our eyes.

The anatomy of a duo, if you may.

Sergei Sheiko attentively listens to the questions, and then he answers slowly, on a soft, quiet tone, as if he were telling a story – and he is indeed telling the story, the story of his family, how come all this came together. From time to time he stops and lets Nikita translates, and a different kind of energy, youthful, exuberant, takes the stage.

And Nikita translates his father’s words, no doubt, but within each answer he adds his own perspective.

“As my dad says…” he starts, and then he goes into different directions, just like the little branches born from the same trunk, so you don’t actually know how much Sergei Sheiko is in each answer, and just how much Nikita.

But they look at each other, an uninterrupted dialogue, and you know: they speak the language of skating these two, and the language of family. They share the same values, the same philosophy and attitude towards work – the father is not shy to say what he thinks of his son, and his son understands him completely.

And some questions have him talk about Nikita’s qualities – Should I praise him or should I not?, Sergei seems to pounder – and the answer comes in all honesty, while Nikita diligently translates: “I listen. I’m on the coach’s side, not against him”.

We talk about Youth Olympics too (“European, European Youth Olympics”, Nikita emphasizes, not to understand that he brags; these are only European Olympic Games), we talk about the Grand Prix events in Linz and Osaka (with takes from both the father and the son), we talk about Kirill, about how he has been looking up to Nikita right from the very start.

We leave for the end of our talk a question that feels so meaningful, impactful – and what we get in return is the most meaningful answer of all.

***

“SKATING? A TOOL FOR US TO BE GOOD PEOPLE”

Nikita Sheiko, having fun on the podium of EduSport Trophy – 6th edition (Otopeni, Romania) with the silver medalist Vadym Novikov and the bronze medalist Mehmet Cenkay Karlikli

We start with the obvious question: Is it difficult to train your kids?

Sergei Sheiko’s answer comes fast, in English: “Yes!”, while Nikita laughs heartily. But then the father elaborates, and his son’s translation and interpretation skills come into play.

Nikita: “I can say something about your question too. But first: It’s really hard to switch from father to a coach, from mother to a coach – and then get back. You know, if you had a bad training, it’s the same at home. So it’s difficult, but I think this makes me better”.

Notice just how Nikita inserted himself into that answer, drawing a smile from his father and an additional remark that gets easily translated: “So the kids pretty much don’t have a nice mother or a nice father – it’s always the angry coach at home”.

Father and son both laugh at this point, and you definitely sense this beautiful energy that travels from one to another.

He’s very talented, Nikita – comes our next remark, with a question too: Apparently, we can’t have this conversation without Nikita, so if you’re going to praise him he will hear it, but what do you think his qualities are? And is he aware he has them?

There’s no way to avoid a straightforward answer, Nikita smiles amused while waiting for his father’s take.

“So, the best quality – as my dad says – is that I am not going against the coach. And I’m trying to do what he says. Maybe not from the first time, but, yeah, I’m more on the coach’s side and not against him. And even if I’m not understanding what the coach says at the moment, I will understand it later, so…”

Truth to be told, they have all the time in the world to settle any misunderstanding.

As for the things Nikita needs to overcome?

“Well, I have to get over my teenage years, you know, when everything changes, when I want to do other stuff as well, like friends and everything. So I have to get over this age – that’s pretty much the problem now, my father says. Except for this, everything is OK”.

“WE WENT TO EYOF ONLY TO PARTICIPATE – WE DIDN’T HAVE GOALS OF WINNING SOMETHING”

Sergei Sheiko’s perspective on Nikita’s win at 2023 European Youth Olympics is a cardboard copy of his son’s (or is it vice versa?): complete surprise.

“No one expected it for real, not even us, the coaches. So we went there only to participate”.

The father emphasizes it: “Tolka!”, and so Nikita emphasizes it too: “Only to participate! We didn’t have goals of winning something. But it was a boost of confidence, so we knew we needed to work more”.

Has this unexpected victory changed Nikita in any way? Made him more serious, readier to work more, having now the confidence he could do it, be at the top?

Nikita: “As my dad says, after the competition I really felt like a star – since I actually won the Youth Olympic Games, the European Youth Olympic Games! [Laughing] So I was like that for a while, but then I understood really fast that to hold my name, the European Youth Olympic Games winner, I have to work even harder than I had worked before. To at least stay at the same level. And, of course, get better”.

Sergei Sheiko continues to add layers to his answer. One word in particular, “komanda”, gets highlighted, and Nikita translates those nuances too: “Yes, it only works because we work as a family, as a team: mom, dad, Igor Tchiniaev, my choreographer, coach Kirill Davydenko …”

It turns out the father had a specific Kirill in mind, “Tvoi Kirill!”

Nikita: “Ah, my Kirill, my brother! Because he’s always, you know, the annoying one in training [laughing], like: Look, I’m better! It’s a competition on the practices as well, so I have to prove that I’m better!”

And does Kirill sometimes win?

“Yeah, yeah! When it comes to the triple-triple combination, with the triple Toe as the second jump, he’s always like: Come and watch, I’m winning this, I’m better!

But Nikita Sheiko has another Kirill in mind too: Kirill Davydenko, essential to his coaching team.

“What I wanted to say earlier is big thanks to Kirill Davidenko, because after last season I grew 10 or even 14 centimeters, it was just a really bad boost and I pretty much lost all my jumps, even the triple jumps. And we changed our technique completely – we’re now working with my technique towards the quad jumps. So big thanks to him for all the work that he did with me. And, of course, to my parents – without them, nothing would be possible”.

Listening to his son, Sergei Sheiko adds a little something, and Nikita’s here to tell it all.

“Everything works because we work as a team, my coaches, my brother, everyone works. All coaches work together for one goal, no one takes credit, no one says: This is because of me”.

“NEXT SEASON, WE WANT TO STAND ON THE PODIUM”

When it comes to rating Nikita’s debut on the Junior Grand Prix circuit, Sergei Sheiko is less critical than his son.

Quite the opposite: he puts everything into context and looks for the bigger picture.

“For us it was really hard to even get there – the season before they hadn’t given us any Grand Prix events. But this really gave us a boost and, same as with European Youth Olympic Games, we’re working even harder after each competition”.

And there’s more to it: “The Grand Prix events opened the door to more goals: now we want medals on the Grand Prix circuit, not just go the Grand Prix”.

No room for anything else: “Next season, we don’t want to just participate on the Grand Prix-s – we want to stand on the podium”.

And then comes this: we ask Sergei Sheiko what he wants for his sons in the future. As skaters, as people – what are his goals and his desires for the two.

And this beauty of an answer follows, translated by Nikita.

“Figure skating is like a helping tool for us to become good people, my father says. Our life is not just figure skating, it’s always English lessons, math and everything… Figure skating, if it will be good, it will be good. But it’s not just us becoming good skaters, it’s us becoming good people”.

LOOK OUT: BOTH SHEIKO BOYS ON THE JUNIOR CIRCUIT THIS SEASON

A month after our talk, Nikita Sheiko went on winning the bronze medal in his category at Bavarian Open in Oberstdorf, the qualifying competition for 2024 Junior Worlds.

One place higher though was teammate Tamir Kuperman, Nikita’s almost traditional opponent, who won the free skate in Germany, the silver medal overall and the ticket to Taiwan.

Also in Oberstdorf for the event – you know by now, the Sheiko-s travel and compete like a family –, the younger Kirill won the advanced novice gold, the final result & competition before the next step of his career: entering the junior category and meeting his elder brother more than in practices at home.

Laughing with one eye and crying with the other, mother and coach Julia Sheiko will say it best in a heartwarming message to both her sons, and the Israeli skater & team that qualified for Worlds.

“I have very mixed feelings right now.

Nikita and all our group did a very big and long journey to prepare for the national selection for participation in Junior Worlds. It was hard, but very fruitful and awarding effort, which I believe made Nikita a bit better figure skater.

I want to express my deep gratitude to my husband and Nikita’s co-coach Sergei, to our choreographer Igor Tchiniaev for amazing programs, to Kirill Davydenko for endless help and openness in sharing coaching experience…

Most of all, I want to express my pride of my son and my athlete.

Nikita, you worked very hard and you achieved a lot. This time we lost. It’s ok. Previous time we won, but it was previous time. It will be 50 more times. Or 150.

I also want to use this opportunity to express my gratitude to Tamir Kuperman and his coaching team. Guys, you put a very high bar and it’s an honor to compete with you, so challenge accepted and it will be our honor to compete with you again.

At the end, the one who really won is Israeli figure skating. Not so often we get four kids on such tough competitions on podium in three categories of advanced novices and juniors [Israeli’s Simona Tkachman won the advanced novice women category as well – editor’s note].

Which brings me to the point of Kirill, my younger one.

I am very proud of him and, you know what, next season he will start as junior and very much might be that, one day, he will give to the current champions a very good run for their money. Let’s see”.

***

So remember this at the beginning of 2024-2025 season:

Nikita and Kirill Sheiko will share the junior stage starting this year and we can’t wait to see them thrive, challenge themselves, share the benches in the Kiss and Cry while waiting for their scores, always surrounded by a pair of hearts that wish them well – a skating family to the core.

[Story and interviews by Florentina Tone / Otopeni, Romania
Photos by Florentina Tone, Israeli Skating Federation,
Getty Images, EduSport Trophy, Sheiko family archive]