Maria Sotskova

Background

Maria Romanovna Sotskova was born on 12 April 2000 in Reutov, Moscow Oblast, Russia. Sotskova began skating at the age of four after her mother decided to bring her to the ice rink.

Education

At her next JGP assignment, in Ostrava, Czechoslovakian Republic, she finished 2nd to Alexandra Proklova by over 15 points.

Career

Svetlana Panova has coached her from the beginning. Her figure skating idol is Carolina Kostner. 2012−13 season

2013−14 season

Sotskova"s silver medals qualified her for the JGP Final in Fukuoka, Japan, where she defeated teammates Sakhanovich and Medvedeva for the gold.

She then took silver behind Sakhanovich at the 2014 Russian Junior Championships and was assigned to the 2014 World Junior Championships in Sofia, Bulgaria.

She withdrew due to a meniscus injury. 2014−15 season

She finished 4th in Barcelona, Spain at her second JGP Final.

Making her senior national debut, she placed 6th at the Russian Championships before winning the junior silver medal. Concluding her season, she placed 5th at the 2015 World Junior Championships in Tallinn.

2015−16 season

In June 2015, Sotskova went to Artesia, California to get her programs choreographed, and work with Rafael Arutyunyan on her jumps.

Her first senior gold medal came at the Tallinn Trophy, an International Skating Union Challenger Series event in November. At the 2015-2016 JGP Final in Barcelona, Sotskova placed fourth in the short and second in the free skate, taking the silver medal ahead of Japan"s Marin Honda. In February, Sotskova represented Russia at the 2016 Winter Youth Olympics in Hamar, Norway, winning the silver medal behind teammate Polina Tsurskaya.

In March, she was awarded silver at the 2016 World Junior Championships in Debrecen, Hungary, after finishing between Honda and Higuchi.

Achievements

• She is the 2016 Youth Olympic silver medalist, the 2016 World Junior silver medalist, the 2013-2014 Junior Grand Prix Final champion, and a four-time Russian national junior medalist. In the 2012−13 season, Sotskova won a bronze medal behind Serafima Sakhanovich at the 2013 Russian Junior Championships. Sotskova made her junior international debut at the 2013-2014 Junior Grand Prix event in Riga, Latvia. She won the silver medal behind Evgenia Medvedeva by a margin of 3.03 points. In the 2014-2015 JGP season, Sotskova took silver in Tallinn, Estonia, finishing second to Japan"s Miyu Nakashio by 0.97, and then won gold in Zagreb, Croatia, by a margin of 1.4 points over Karen Chen of the United States. In the 2015-2016 JGP season, she won gold at her events in Riga, Latvia and Linz, Austria, resulting in qualification to her third JGP Final. At the Russian Championships, she finished fifth on the senior level, in December, and went on to win the junior silver medal, in January.