Jelizaveta Žuková

In this name that follows East Slavic naming customs, the patronymic is Valeriyevna and the family name is Zhuk.

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.

Jelizaveta Žuková Elizaveta Zhuk
Full name	Elizaveta Valeriyevna Zhuk
Native name	Елизавета Валерьевна Жук (Russian)
Other names	Yelizaveta Jelizaveta Žuk/Žuková
Born	(2003-11-02) 2 November 2003 (age 21) Yekaterinburg, Russia
Height	1.60 m (5 ft 3 in)
Figure skating career
Country	Czech Republic (2019–23)  Russia (2014–18)
Discipline	Pair skating
Partner	Martin Bidař (2019–23) Egor Britkov (2014–18)
Began skating	2007
Retired	December 22, 2022
Medal record
Czech Championships 2020 Ostrava Pairs 2021 Cieszyn Pairs

Personal life

Elizaveta Zhuk was born on 2 November 2003 in Yekaterinburg, Russia. In December 2021, she became a Czech citizen.^[1] 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.^[2] 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.^[3]

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.^[4]

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.^[5] They were fifth in the short, fourth in the free, and fourth overall.^[6] 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.^[4][7]

2021–22 season

In September, the Czech federation officially named Zhuk and Bidař to the Czech Olympic team.^[8] They made their debut at the 2021 Finlandia Trophy, where they placed ninth. They later competed at a second Challenger event, finishing twelfth at the 2021 Warsaw Cup.^[4]

Zhuk opted to restyle her name as Jelizaveta Žuková in advance of the Olympics. Žuková and Bidař made their European Championship debut in Tallinn, finishing in twelfth place.^[4]

Žuková and Bidař began the 2022 Winter Olympics as the Czech entries in the pairs' Olympic team event, where they placed eighth of nine teams, earning three points for the Czech team.^[9] Team Czech Republic did not advance to the next stage of the competition and finished eighth overall.^[10] With two falls in the short program of the pairs event, they finished seventeenth and missed qualification for the free skate.^[11] Žuková sustained an ankle injury in training; as a result of which they did not compete at the 2022 World Championships.^[12]

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.^[13]

2022–23 season

Žuková and Bidař placed eighth at the 2022 Nebelhorn Trophy to start the season before placing sixth at the 2022 Skate Canada International.^[4]

In December 2022, it was announced that the pair had split.^[14]

Programs

Pair skating with Martin Bidař (for the Czech Republic)

Season	Short program	Free skating
2022–2023 [15]	Keeping Me Alive by Jonathan Roy choreo. by Benoit Richaud	So Far by Olafur Arnalds & Arnor Dan choreo. by Benoit Richaud
2021–2022 [16]	Boom Boom by 2WEI choreo. by Benoit Richaud
2020–2021 [17]	Prologue (from West Side Story) by Leonard Bernstein choreo. by Dmitri Savin	Ave Maria by Franz Schubert arranged by Rob Tyger, Kay Denar performed by Sarah Connor choreo. by Dmitri Savin

Pair skating with Egor Britkov (for Russia)

Season	Short program	Free skating
2017–2018 [18]	Moon River by Henry Mancini performed by Andy Williams choreo. by Anton Milovanov	La califfa by Ennio Morricone Mythic by Two Steps from Hell choreo. by Alexei Kudrin

Competitive highlights

Pair skating with Martin Bidař (for the Czech Republic)

Competition placements at senior level ^[19]

Season	2019–20	2020–21	2021–22	2022–23
Winter Olympics			17th
Winter Olympics (Team event)			8th
World Championships		15th
European Championships			12th
Czech Championships	1st	1st
Four Nationals Championships	[a]	1st
GP Skate Canada				6th
CS Finlandia Trophy			9th
CS Nebelhorn Trophy		4th		8th
CS Warsaw Cup			12th
Autumn Talents Cup			1st
Challenge Cup		4th

1. As Jelizaveta Žuková had not yet been released from Russia to compete internationally, she and Martin Bidař competed in the Czech Championships, but not the Four Nationals Championships.

Pair skating with Egor Britkov (for Russia)

International: Junior[3]
Event	2015–16	2016–17	2017–18
Golden Spin			2nd
National[3]
Russian Champ.		9th
Russian Junior	10th	4th

Detailed results

Pair skating with Martin Bidař (for the Czech Republic)

ISU personal best scores in the +5/-5 GOE System ^[19]

Segment	Type	Score	Event
Total	TSS	159.73	2022 European Championships
Short program	TSS	60.88	2021 CS Warsaw Cup
	TES	33.80	2021 CS Warsaw Cup
	PCS	27.69	2022 Winter Olympics (Team event)
Free skating	TSS	105.33	2022 European Championships
	TES	54.90	2022 European Championships
	PCS	55.03	2022 Skate Canada International

Results in the 2019–20 season ^[19]

Date	Event	SP		FS		Total
		P	Score	P	Score	P	Score
Dec 13–14, 2019	2020 Czech Championships[a]	1	49.12	1	94.47	1	143.59

Results in the 2020–21 season ^[19]

Date	Event	SP		FS		Total
		P	Score	P	Score	P	Score
Sep 23–26, 2020	2020 CS Nebelhorn Trophy	5	51.20	4	91.83	4	143.03
Dec 10–12, 2020	2021 Four Nationals Championships	1	55.83	1	87.67	1	143.50
Dec 10–12, 2020	2021 Czech Championships[b]	1	—	1	—	1	—
Feb 26–28, 2021	2021 International Challenge Cup	5	54.13	4	108.98	4	163.11
Mar 22–28, 2021	2021 World Championships	16	54.30	15	102.99	15	157.29

Results in the 2021–22 season ^[19]

Date	Event	SP		FS		Total
		P	Score	P	Score	P	Score
Oct 7–10, 2021	2021 CS Finlandia Trophy	9	48.36	10	93.90	9	142.26
Oct 27–30, 2021	2021 Autumn Talents Cup	1	46.96	1	91.44	1	138.40
Nov 17–20, 2021	2021 CS Warsaw Cup	8	60.88	12	96.25	12	157.13
Jan 10–16, 2022	2022 European Championships	15	54.40	10	105.33	12	159.73
Feb 4–7, 2022	2022 Winter Olympics (Team event)	8	56.70	—	—	8	—
Feb 18–19, 2022	2022 Winter Olympics	17	54.64	—	—	17	54.64

Results in the 2022–23 season ^[19]

Date	Event	SP		FS		Total
		P	Score	P	Score	P	Score
Sep 21–24, 2022	2022 CS Nebelhorn Trophy	9	49.67	8	97.65	8	147.32
Oct 28–30, 2022	2022 Skate Canada International	6	52.84	7	100.66	6	153.50

1. As Jelizaveta Žuková had not yet been released from Russia to compete internationally, she and Martin Bidař competed in the Czech Championships, but not the Four Nationals Championships.
2. In the Czech Republic, the Czech Championships are contested as part of the Four Nationals Championships.