Ruslan Zhiganshin was born on 25 September 1992 in Moscow. He is the brother of Nelli Zhiganshina, a competitive ice dancer for Germany.[9]
Early years on the ice
Zhiganshin became interested in skating after his mother took him along to his sister's practices.[10][11] Having taken up ice dancing at age nine, he had one partner before becoming partnerless for a year.[10]
Sinitsina/Zhiganshin debuted on the Junior Grand Prix circuit at the 2008 Merano Cup where they finished sixth. The following JGP season, they placed fifth at both of their events.
In the 2011–12 season, Sinitsina/Zhiganshin won gold at the Junior Grand Prix event in Poland, their first JGP title. They won another title in Austria to qualify for their second JGP Final. At the Junior Grand Prix Final, they placed first in both segments and won the title. They then took gold at the 2012 Russian Junior Championships. Sinitsina/Zhiganshin won the 2012 World Junior title.[15] They were first in both the short and free dance and scored their season's best, 153.81 points.
Along with Ilinykh/Katsalapov and Bobrova/Soloviev, Sinitsina/Zhiganshin were selected to represent Russia at the Winter Olympics, held in February 2014 in Sochi. They finished 16th at the Olympics, behind a number of teams they had surpassed at Europeans, but rebounded the next month at the 2014 World Championships. They placed eighth in both segments and finished seventh overall in Saitama, Japan. In early April 2014, Sinitsina left to skate with Nikita Katsalapov.[16]
Partnership with Ilinykh
Soon after, in early April 2014, Zhiganshin's coaches invited Katsalapov's former partner, Elena Ilinykh, to try out with their student.[17][16] Coached by Elena Kustarova in Moscow, Ilinykh/Zhiganshin began training together in an unofficial partnership — the Russian federation having decided to give Ilinykh/Katsalapov time to reconcile — and received approval at the end of May.[18]
2014–15 season
For the 2014–15 Grand Prix season, Ilinykh/Zhiganshin were assigned to Cup of China and Rostelecom Cup.[19] Making their international debut, they placed fourth at Cup of China and then won the silver medal behind Americans Madison Chock / Evan Bates at Rostelecom Cup. They qualified for the Grand Prix Final in their first season as a team.[17] At the GPF in Barcelona, they placed sixth in the short dance, fourth in the free dance, and sixth overall. At the 2015 Russian Championships, Ilinykh/Ziganshin won their first national title.
They finished fourth at the 2017 Russian Championships, losing the bronze to Sinisina/Katsalapov by 0.17. They had a one-point deduction after part of their costume fell onto the ice.[21]
Zhiganshin decided to retire from competition due to a spinal injury.[22]
^Ermolina, Olga (18 April 2013). Руслан ЖИГАНШИН: "Летом будем готовиться в Латвии" [Ruslan Zhiganshin: "In the summer we will be preparing in Latvia"]. fsrussia.ru (in Russian). Figure Skating Federation of Russia.