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Sofja Stepčenko
Latvian figure skater (born 2006) From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
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Sofja Stepčenko (born 21 December 2006) is a Latvian figure skater. She is a two-time Latvian national champion (2022-23) and 2023 Volvo Open Cup champion. She placed eleventh at the 2023 European Championships.
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Career
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Early years
Stepčenko began figure skating in 2010. She competed in the advanced novice category for two seasons and then moved up to the junior ranks in 2020.[1]
2021–22 season
Stepčenko made her ISU Junior Grand Prix (JGP) debut in September, finishing seventeenth at 2021 JGP Poland. She followed this up with a twenty-sixth place finish at 2021 JGP Austria.[2] She competed at her assignments with pain in her hip, and she learned in December that she had developed a stress fracture with necrosis.[3]
She subsequently won silver on the junior level at the 2021 Victor Petrenko Cup, at the 2021 Volvo Open Cup, and at the 2022 Kurbada Cup.[2]
2022–23 season
Stepčenko began her season on the Junior Grand Prix series, finishing twenty-first at the 2022 JGP France and twelfth at the 2022 JGP Latvia. In November, making her senior international debut, she placed fourth at the Volvo Open Cup and seventh at the Tallinn Trophy. Her first senior international medal, gold, came in December at the Latvia Trophy.[4] The second-best Latvian woman at the event was Angelīna Kučvaļska, who finished in fifth place.[2]
Stepčenko was nominated to represent Latvia at the 2023 European Championships, which took place in January in Helsinki, Finland. Ranked fourteenth in the short program, she qualified to the free skate and climbed to eleventh overall.[5] This was the best European result by a Latvian woman since Angelina Kučvaļska's fourth place at the 2016 edition.[6] Stepčenko came twenty-third at the 2023 World Championships.[7] She competed at the event after badly spraining her ankle a week beforehand; she later said she was pressured by her coaches to compete despite her injury.[3]
2023–24 season
Stepčenko started the season by competing on the Junior Grand Prix series, finishing sixth at the 2023 JGP Turkey. She went on to compete on the senior international level as well, winning the 2023 Jelgava Cup and placing twelfth at the 2023 CS Nepela Memorial.[7]
Appearing again on the Junior Grand Prix, Stepčenko finished tenth at the 2023 JGP Armenia. Her next event was the 2023 CS Budapest Trophy, where she finished eleventh. Going on to compete at two events in Latvia, Stepčenko won silver at the 2023 Volvo Open Cup and gold at the 2023 Latvia Trophy.[7]
Selected to compete at the 2024 European Championships in Kaunas, Lithuania, Stepčenko placed twenty-first in the short program and thirteenth in the free skate, finishing thirteenth overall. At this event, Stepčenko scored a new personal best free skate score. [2] Soon after, Stepčenko competed on the junior level at the 2024 Volvo Open Cup, winning the gold medal.[7]
Competing at the 2024 Youth Olympics, Stepčenko finished sixteenth. She then competed at the 2024 World Championships, where she placed thirty-first.[7]
2024–25 season
In July, it was announced that Stepčenko had left longtime coach, Olga Kovalkova and had relocated to Champéry, Switzerland to train under Stéphane Lambiel.[8] Competing at the 2024 CS Nebelhorn Trophy, Stepčenko finished twelfth. Debuting on the 2024–25 Grand Prix circuit, Stepčenko finished twelfth at 2024 Skate America. She then went on to finish ninth at the 2024 CS Tallinn Trophy and at the 2024 Santa Claus Cup.[7]
In December, Stepčenko won the silver medal at the 2025 Latvian Championships behind Anastasija Konga.[9] She subsequently finished sixth at the 2025 Bavarian Open and won the bronze medal at the 2025 Skate Helena. Although she completed the short program at the 2025 Dragon Trophy, she withdrew before the event's free skate.[2]
In February, Stepčenko sought psychological care and was diagnosed with depression and complex post-traumatic stress disorder. Lambiel advised her to withdraw from the upcoming World championships, but he left the final decision up to her, and she decided to compete.[3]
In March, Stepčenko competed at the 2025 Daugava Open Cup, where she finished in fourth place. The following week, she competed at the 2025 World Championships in Boston, Massachusetts, United States. She placed thirtieth in the short program and did not advance to the free skate segment.[2]
2025–26 season: Hiatus
In July, Stepčenko announced that she would skip the 2025–26 season to focus on her mental health.[10]
In August, Stepčenko became one of several skaters to accuse the leaders of her former training base, Kristal Ice in Riga, of abuse, namely her longtime coaches, Olga Kovalkova and Raimo Reinsalu. She said that she had been through several stays in mental hospitals to deal with the effects of the training under them, which caused her to become suicidal, and their comments had exacerbated an eating disorder she had struggled with for years. She alleged that she had been pushed to train and compete on severe injuries, that she was told that she was lying when she said she was in pain, and that her injuries were blamed on her weight. The coaches denied encouraging her to compete while injured and accused of her being manipulative and lying to gain donations.[3][11] In late September, it was reported that the Latvian Skating Association had not yet reimbursed her for her travel expenses for her Grand Prix series events in the 2024–25 season; these expenses are paid by the competition organizers to the national federations, which are supposed to then disburse the funds to the skaters.[12]
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Programs
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Competitive highlights
GP: Grand Prix; CS: Challenger Series; JGP: Junior Grand Prix
Detailed results
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Current personal best scores are highlighted in bold.
Senior results
Junior results
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References
External links
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