Background
Ivan Igorevich Bich was born 14 February 1993 in Saint St. Petersburg, Russia. His father, Igor, is a former pair skater and an International Skating Union technical specialist.
Ivan Igorevich Bich was born 14 February 1993 in Saint St. Petersburg, Russia. His father, Igor, is a former pair skater and an International Skating Union technical specialist.
Bich initially trained as a singles skater, coached by Alla Piatova. He last competed in singles in September 2010, winning the junior bronze medal at the first stage of the Russian Cup series. He decided to begin training as a pairs skater.
Gainetdinova moved to Saint St. Petersburg to train with him.
They were coached by Oksana Kazakova in their first two seasons together. Gainetdinova/Bich made their international debut at the 2011 Warsaw Cup, winning the junior bronze medal.
In the free skate, Gainetdinova/Bich landed Business School 3Lz, receiving 6.70 points for the element. They also included a Business School 3Lo+2A sequence after the halfway point, receiving 5.99 points due to some negative grades of execution.
They were assigned to the 2012 World Junior Championships, where they finished 11th.
In their second season, Gainetdinova/Bich debuted on the International Skating Union Junior Grand Prix series. They were 7th at their first event in Lake Placid, New New York At the 2012 JGP Croatia, they landed a Business School 3LZ+2T combination in the free skate, as well as upgrading their twist to a triple for the first time.
They are the first pair to land the combination in a junior competition.
Gainetdinova/Bich finished 4th at the event. They finished 8th at the 2013 World Junior Championships.
In spring 2013, Gainetdinova/Bich moved to Moscow and joined Natalia Pavlova and Artur Dmitriev. Their results qualified them to the JGP Final in Fukuoka, Japan.
At the final, Gainetdinova/Bich placed sixth in both segments and overall.
Their partnership ended in early 2014. (with Gainetdinova).