Career
Petukhov began skating at age eight, in ice dancing from the start. That partnership ended in the spring of 2000 when she ruptured her achilles tendon and was forced to retire from skating. He came to the United States on a tourist visa at the end of August 2000 to test with her and other prospective partners, but canceled his other tryouts after skating with Gregory first, and never used his return plane ticket to Russia.
Gregory and Petukhov were originally coached by Oleg Epstein and Sandy Hess but made a change in 2003 to Nikolai Morozov and Shae-Lynn Bourne.
Following the 2005-2006 season, they switched again to Natalia Linichuk and Gennadi Karpanosov at the University of Delaware in Newark. On September 7, 2007, they announced another coaching change, this time to Priscilla Hill at The Pond Ice Arena, also in Newark.
Petukhov is one of the few skaters to have competed at both the European and Four Continents Championships. Gregory and Petukhov both suffered injuries in a fall during the warmup before the free dance at 2007 Skate Canada International on November 4, 2007.
Petukhov lost his footing while practicing a one-handed rotational lift, dropping Gregory onto the ice and injuring her ribs and hip and skidding into the boards himself, hurting his own knee and neck.
Gregory was taken to a hospital following the fall but released that night. They were then forced to withdraw from competition for the rest of the season while they healed from their injuries. Gregory and Petukhov did not return to competition, partially due to financial difficulties.
In 2008, they moved to Connecticut and began coaching and choreographing for other skaters at the International Skating Center of Connecticut.
They also launched their own YouTube channel, OlympianUncut, which focuses on a behind-the-scenes look at the skating world. They continue to skate in shows such as the Stars, Stripes and Skates show in September 2009.
Petukhov choreographs the majority of his and Gregory"s programs himself and has also choreographed programs for other skaters such as singles skaters Johnny Weir and Evgeni Plushenko. (with Gregory).
