Jelizaveta Žuková Explained

Jelizaveta Žuková
Elizaveta Zhuk
Native Name Lang:ru
Fullname:Elizaveta Valeriyevna Zhuk
Also Known As:Yelizaveta
Jelizaveta Žuk/Žuková
Birth Date:2 November 2003
Birth Place:Yekaterinburg, Russia
Beganskating:2007
Retired:December 22, 2022
Discipline:Pair skating

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.

Personal life

Elizaveta Zhuk was born on 2 November 2003 in Yekaterinburg, Russia. In December 2021, she became a Czech citizen. Her name changed to Jelizaveta Žuková, with a feminine suffix added to the Czech transliteration of her Russian name.

Career

Early career

Zhuk began learning to skate in 2007. Training in pairs, early partners included Maxim Miroshkin and Evgeniy Kostarev. 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.

2019–2020 season

On 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.

2020–2021 season

With 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. They were fifth in the short, fourth in the free, and fourth overall. 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.

2021–2022 season

In September, the Czech federation officially named Zhuk/Bidař to the Czech Olympic team. 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.

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.

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. Team Czech Republic did not advance to the next stage of the competition and finished eighth overall. 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. Žuková sustained an ankle injury in training, as a result of which they did not compete at the 2022 World Championships.

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.

2022–2023 season

Žuková/Bidař were eighth at the 2022 CS Nebelhorn Trophy to start the season before placing sixth at the 2022 Skate Canada International.

In December 2022, it was announced that the pair had parted ways.

Programs

With Bidař

SeasonShort programFree skating
2022–2023
  • Keeping Me Alive
  • So Far
2021–2022
2020–2021
  • Prologue

With Britkov

Competitive highlights

CS: Challenger Series

With Bidař for the Czech Republic

International
Event19–2020–2121–2222–23
align=left 17th
align=left 15th WD
align=left 12th
align=left 6th
align=left 9th
align=left 4th 8th
align=left 12th
align=left Autumn Talents Cup bgcolor=gold 1st
align=left 4th
National
align=left bgcolor=gold1st bgcolor=gold1st WD
Team events
align=left 8th T
8th P

With Britkov for Russia

International: Junior
Event2015–162016–172017–18
align=left bgcolor=silver2nd
National
align=left 9th
align=left 10th 4th

Detailed results

ISU Personal Best highlighted in bold.

With Bidař

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2022–23 season
DateEventSPFSTotal
October 28–30, 20222022 Skate Canada Internationalalign=center 6
52.84
align=center 7
100.66
align=center 6
153.50
September 21–24, 20222022 CS Nebelhorn Trophyalign=center 9
49.67
align=center 8
97.65
align=center 8
147.32
2021–22 season
DateEventSPFSTotal
February 18–19, 20222022 Winter Olympicsalign=center 17
54.64
align=center
align=center 17
54.64
February 4–7, 20222022 Winter Olympics – Team eventalign=center 8
56.70
align=center align=center 8T
January 10–16, 20222022 European Championshipsalign=center 15
54.40
align=center 10
105.33
align=center 12
159.73
November 17–20, 20212021 CS Warsaw Cupalign=center 8
60.88
align=center 12
96.25
align=center 12
157.13
October 27–30, 20212021 Autumn Talents Cupalign=center 1
46.96
align=center 1
91.44
align=center bgcolor=gold 1
138.40
October 7–10, 20212021 CS Finlandia Trophyalign=center 9
48.36
align=center 10
93.90
align=center 9
142.26
2020–21 season
DateEventSPFSTotal
March 22–28, 20212021 World Championshipsalign=center 16
54.30
align=center 15
102.99
align=center 15
157.29
February 26–28, 20212021 Challenge Cupalign=center 5
54.13
align=center 4
108.98
align=center 4
163.11
December 10–12, 20202021 Czech Championshipsalign=center 1
55.83
align=center 1
87.67
align=center bgcolor=gold 1
143.50
September 23–26, 20202020 CS Nebelhorn Trophyalign=center 5
51.20
align=center 4
91.83
align=center 4
143.03
2019–20 season
DateEventSPFSTotal
December 13–14, 20192020 Czech Championships
align=center 1
49.12
align=center 1
94.47
align=center bgcolor=gold1
143.59