Inga Gurgenidze

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Inga Gurgenidze
Full name	Inga Zurabovna Gurgenidze
Native name	ინგა ზურაბის ასული გურგენიძე (Georgian) Инга Зурабовна Гургенидзе (Russian)
Other names	Inga Nikitina
Born	(2009-04-23) 23 April 2009 (age 15) Kazan, Tatarstan, Russia
Height	1.46 m (4 ft 9+1⁄2 in)
Figure skating career
Country	Georgia
Coach	Liudmila Gafarova
Skating club	RSSHOR of Figure Skating

Inga Zurabovna Gurgenidze (Georgian: ინგა ზურაბის ასული გურგენიძე, Russian: Инга Зурабовна Гургенидзе; born 23 April 2009), born Inga Zurabovna Nikitina,^[1] is a Russian-born Georgian figure skater who represents Georgia in women's singles. She is the 2022 JGP Italy bronze medalist, the 2022 Denis Ten Memorial junior champion, the 2022 Bosphorus Cup junior silver medalist, and the 2023 Dragon Trophy junior champion. She finished within the top ten at the 2023 World Junior Championships. She is the twenty-third woman in history to have successfully landed a triple Axel jump in competition.^[2]

Gurgenidze was born on 23 April 2009 in Kazan, Tatarstan, Russia.^[3] Part of her family is from Georgia, including her grandmother, who she used to visit every summer as a child.^[4]

She initially competed under her mother's surname, Nikitina, until the 2021–22 season when she changed it to her father's surname, Gurgenidze.^[1]

In addition, she has expressed interest in learning the English and Georgian languages.^[4]

Gurgenidze's figure skating idols are Julia Lipnitskaia, Evgenia Medvedeva, and Elizaveta Tuktamysheva.^[4]

Gurgenidze began figure skating in 2013 and has been coached by Liudmila Gafarova since a very young age.^[4][3]

She competed at the 2022 Russian Junior Championships, finishing in fifteenth place.^[5]

In August 2022, it was confirmed that Russian-born Gurgenidze would be representing Georgia in international competition, having never previously skated for Russia internationally.^[1] She made her international debut on the Junior Grand Prix series. She began her season with a fourth-place finish at 2022 JGP Latvia.^[6] At her second even, the 2022 JGP Italy, Gurgenidze won the bronze medal.^[7]

Gurgenidze then went on to win gold at the 2022 Denis Ten Memorial Challenge, silver at the 2022 Bosphorus Cup, and another gold at the 2023 Dragon Trophy. She finished the season at the 2023 World Junior Championships in Calgary, Alberta. After placing a disappointing nineteenth in the short program, Gurgenidze managed to skate a solid free program, placing seventh in that segment of the competition and finishing in ninth place overall.^[6]

In her second Junior Grand Prix season, Gurgenidze came ninth at the 2023 JGP Hungary and sixth at the 2023 JGP Armenia. She successfully defended her gold medal at the 2023 Denis Ten Memorial Challenge and then won gold at the 2023 Bosphorus Cup to conclude the fall season.^[6]

Gurgenidze represented Georgia in the women's event at the 2024 Winter Youth Olympics in Gangwon, coming fifth. At the 2024 World Junior Championships, she placed twelfth.^[6]

During the off-season, Gurgenidze worked with Russian choreographer, Sergey Plishkin, on her free skate to music from the film, Dancer in the Dark. Regarding the program's concept, Gurgenidze explained that she plays a blind woman dancing in the dark and moving her soul while still unable to see.^[4] She would begin the season by competing on the 2024-25 ISU Junior Grand Prix circuit, finishing fifth at 2024 JGP Turkey.^[6] At her second junior grand prix event, 2024 JGP China, Gurgenidze's coach, Liudmila Gafarova, was unable to attend due to visa issues. Gurgenidze would place a disappointing thirteenth-place in the short program but managed to skate a solid free skate that included a clean triple axel. She would finish third in that segment of the competition and finish sixth overall.^[4]

JGP: Junior Grand Prix

Personal best highlighted in bold.

• Inga GURGENIDZE at the International Skating Union
• Inga Gurgenidze at SkatingScores.com