Mikhail Kolyada

Kolyada began learning to skate in 2000.[14] Coach Valentina Chebotareva invited him to join her group when he was five, after observing him at a small rink.[15]

Kolyada began competing on the ISU Junior Grand Prix (JGP) series in 2011. In 2013, he won the Russian Junior Championships and was assigned to the World Junior Championships where he finished 6th.[16]

Kolyada won silver and bronze medals on the JGP series, becoming the first alternate for the Junior Grand Prix Final. After placing sixth in the short program at the senior Russian Championships, he withdrew from the free skate, unable to fix a problem with his boot laces.[17]

Kolyada fractured his right ankle in August 2014, leading to two surgeries and five months off the ice.[12] He withdrew from the 2014 Rostelecom Cup, which would have been his Grand Prix debut, and the 2015 Russian Championships. In March 2015, he won gold at the Gardena Spring Trophy.

Kolyada finished third in the Challenger Series (CS) rankings after winning silver at the 2015 Ondrej Nepela Trophy and bronze at the 2015 Ice Challenge. Skating in his first Grand Prix competition, he placed fifth at the 2015 Rostelecom Cup in November. The following month, he won the silver medal at the Russian Championships in Yekaterinburg.

In January 2016, Kolyada placed ninth in the short program, third in the free skate, and fifth overall at the European Championships in Bratislava, Slovakia. From 30 March to 1 April, he competed at the 2016 World Championships in Boston. Ranked sixth in the short and fifth in the free, he finished fourth overall, just missing the bronze to China's Boyang Jin.

In order to be competitive, Kolyada upgraded his technical content. He initially planned to incorporate a quad Lutz in his short and long programs, but eventually decided that the consistency of the quad Lutz was too risky for the short and a clean program executed perfectly along with his traditionally high components score would keep him in the mix overall. Along with the Lutz, he also tried adding a quad Salchow and toe loop in the free skate.

Kolyada also decided in this season to add a new choreographer to his team, two-time World champion and 2006 Olympic silver medalist Stéphane Lambiel,[18] along with his long-time choreographer, Olga Zotova.

Kolyada placed fourth at the 2016 CS Finlandia Trophy and 2016 Rostelecom Cup. His next Grand Prix assignment was the 2016 NHK Trophy. In December 2016, he won his first Russian national title.[19][20] At the 2017 European Championships, he won the bronze medal behind Javier Fernández and Maxim Kovtun. He placed fourth in the short program and third in the free skate. In the free program he fell on a quad Lutz, but the jump was counted as fully rotated.[21] At the 2017 World Championships he placed seventh in the short program and ninth in the free skate, finishing 8th overall. At the 2017 World Team Trophy he placed fourth in the short program, and fifth in the free skate with Team Russia finishing second place overall. In the free skate and attempted a quad Lutz but fell on the landing although the jump was counted as fully rotated.[22]

Kolyada started his season with a gold medal at the 2017 CS Ondrej Nepela Trophy, after ranking 10th in the short program and first in the free skate. In the free skate, he landed his first quad lutz in international competition.[23] He placed fourth at the 2017 CS Finlandia Trophy and won the bronze medal at the 2017 Rostelecom Cup, and later the gold medal at the 2017 Cup of China, qualifying him for the Grand Prix Final.

He then had his biggest achievement yet, finishing third at the Grand Prix Final. The next month, he won his second consecutive Russian figure skating title, and despite errors won bronze for the second consecutive year at the 2018 European Championships.

At the 2018 Winter Olympics, Kolyada was part of the Olympic Athletes from Russia team in the team event. He performed poorly in the short program, falling on both quadruple jump attempts and singling his triple Axel, placing eighth overall. He placed second in the free skate. Team Russia won the silver medal overall.[24] In the men's individual event, he placed eighth.[25]

Kolyada won the bronze medal at the 2018 World Championships in Milan, Italy, being second after the short, but dropping to third after errors in the long.[26]

Over the summer, Kolyada suffered from sinusitis, which would continue to plague him throughout the fall.[27] He started his season by competing in two ISU Challenger Series events. In mid-September he won the gold medal at the 2018 CS Ondrej Nepela Trophy and in early October he won another gold medal at the 2018 CS Finlandia Trophy. At both events, Kolyada ranked first in both the short program and the free skate. In early November he placed fourth at the 2018 Grand Prix of Helsinki. Two weeks later, he placed fourth again, now at the 2018 Rostelecom Cup. In early December, Kolyada competed at the 2018 CS Golden Spin of Zagreb where he won the silver medal after placing first in the short program and second in the free skate.

Kolyada's sinusitis became serious again immediately prior to the 2019 Russian Championships, leading to his hospitalization, and his participation at nationals being uncertain until days prior. Competing in less than top form, he nevertheless won the silver medal, placing second in the short program and third in the free skate.[28][29]

The European Championships initially went well for Kolyada, with a clean short program earning a personal best score of 100.49 and first place going into the free skate, over eight points ahead of second-place finisher Alexander Samarin.[30] He fell four times in the free program, placing eleventh there, and fifth overall.[31]

At the 2019 World Championships in Saitama, Kolyada placed tenth in the short program after failing to execute his planned quad.[32] He rose to sixth in the free and sixth overall with a program with only minor errors, saying "there were some little technical issues, but overall, I am pleased with how I did. The audience was very supportive and I felt that."[33]

In early October, Kolyada announced that a recurrence of his sinusitis would cause him to miss at least the first half of the season. Coach Valentina Chebotareva expressed the hope that he would be able to return for the 2020 Russian Championships, but ultimately this was not possible.[34] Kolyada resumed training in early January 2020.[35][13]

In June 2020, it was announced that Kolyada had left his longtime coach Chebotareva to train with Alexei Mishin, the coach of Olympic champions Alexei Urmanov and Evgeni Plushenko.[36]

Kolyada debuted his new programs at the senior Russian test skates, where his appearance was widely praised as a highlight of the event, with particular emphasis on his free program tribute to legendary ballet dancer Rudolf Nureyev. Kolyada performed only quad toe loops at the event, but indicated that he was planning to reintroduce the quad Lutz and Salchow in the future.[37] He next competed at the third stage of the domestic Cup of Russia series, winning the gold medal.[38]

With the COVID-19 pandemic continuing to affect international travel, the Grand Prix was designed primarily around geographic location, and Kolyada was assigned to the 2020 Rostelecom Cup. He placed third in the short program after two minor jump errors.[39] He won the free skate by a wide margin to take the gold medal, his second Grand Prix win.[40]

On December 3, it was announced that Kolyada had to withdraw from the fifth stage of the Cup of Russia series after training mate Elizaveta Tuktamysheva contracted COVID-19.[41] He was ill afterward, though not with the coronavirus, and was able to compete at the 2021 Russian Championships, winning the short program by four points over Makar Ignatov.[42] He won the free skate by almost twenty-five points, reclaiming the Russian title, which he contrasted with his prior wins by saying "this is one of the most meaningful as after a long break it is always hard as well as interesting to come back." He was assigned to the Russian team for the 2021 World Championships in Stockholm.[43]

Kolyada at the 2018 World Championships

Kolyada at the 2017 World Team Trophy

Small medals for short and free programs awarded only at ISU Championships.