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Alina Urushadze
Urushadze at the 2020 Winter Youth Olympics
Native name	ალინა ურუშაძე
Born	(2004-01-07) 7 January 2004 (age 20) Riga, Latvia
Hometown	Riga, Latvia
Height	1.64 m (5 ft 4+1⁄2 in)
Figure skating career
Country	Georgia (2018–2024)  Latvia (till 2018)
Coach	Andrejs Brovenko
Skating club	Skating Skills
Began skating	2008
Retired	November 19, 2024

Alina Urushadze (Georgian: ალინა ურუშაძე, Russian: Алина Урушадзе; born 7 January 2004) is a retired Latvian-born Georgian-Russian figure skater who represented Georgia. She is the 2019 Bosphorus Cup silver medalist and the 2019 Volvo Open Cup bronze medalist. She placed 11th at the 2019 World Junior Championships and 5th at the 2020 Winter Youth Olympics.

Personal life

Urushadze was born in Riga, Latvia on 7 January 2004. She has an older brother and younger sister. Her paternal grandfather is Georgian, which aided in her process to obtain Georgian citizenship.

She has expressed interest in becoming a figure skating coach after retiring from competitive figure skating.

Career

Urushadze began skating in 2008. She initially skated for Latvia until 2018 when Mariam Giorgobiani, the president of the Georgian Figure Skating Federation, approached Urushadze due to her Georgian surname and asked if she would be interested in representing Georgia. Urushadze agreed to this and began representing Georgia in October 2018 at the age of thirteen.

2018–2019 season

In October 2018, Urushadze made her ISU Junior Grand Prix series debut in Yerevan, Armenia at the 2018 JGP Armenia. Despite placing fifth in both the short program and the free skate, she finished sixth overall and did not receive another Junior Grand Prix assignment for the season. Throughout the rest of the season, Urushadze went on to compete in the junior category at a number of smaller events, before wrapping up with her two largest events of the season: the 2019 European Youth Olympic Winter Festival and the 2019 World Junior Championships. At EYOF, Urushadze placed fourth in the short program, but fell to seventh after the free skate and sixth overall.

At Junior Worlds the following month, Urushadze ranked fifteenth after the short program, which put her in the third-to-last warm-up group for the free skate, where she placed eleventh, rising to eleventh overall.

2019–2020 season

Given two assignments on the Junior Grand Prix, Urushadze placed eighth in France and sixth in Croatia. After competing at a number of small senior competitions, winning medals at two of them, she competed at the 2020 Winter Youth Olympics in Lausanne, where she placed fifth. Making her senior ISU Championship debut, she placed fifteenth at the 2020 European Championships. She concluded the season with a fifteenth-place finish at the 2020 World Junior Championships.

Urushadze had been assigned to make her World Championship debut in Montreal, but they were cancelled as a result of the coronavirus pandemic.

2020–2021 season

With the pandemic continuing to limit international events, the ISU opted to assign the Grand Prix based primarily on geographic location. Urushadze made her Grand Prix debut at the 2020 Rostelecom Cup, finishing tenth among the ten competitors. She placed twentieth at the 2021 World Championships in Stockholm. Urushadze's result qualified a berth for Georgia at the 2022 Winter Olympics.

2021–2022 season

Urushadze began the season by competing on the Junior Grand Prix series, finishing seventh at the 2021 JGP France I. She went on to finish fifth at the 2021 Budapest Trophy. At the 2021 Volvo Open Cup, Urushadze won the gold medal before finishing seventeenth at the 2021 CS Warsaw Cup.

The Olympic spot for Georgia was ultimately awarded to Anastasia Gubanova.

2023–2024 season

In June 2023, the Georgian Figure Skating Federation announced that Urushadze would return to competition after a season of not competing. It was also announced that Urushadze had left Moscow, returned to her hometown of Riga, and training under former coach, Andrejs Brovenko.

She finished tenth at the 2023 CS Lombardia Trophy and the 2023 CS Budapest Trophy. Urushadze then competed at the 2024 European Championships in Kaunas, Lithuania, finishing twenty-second.

She would announce her retirement from competitive figure skating in November 2024.

Programs

Competitive highlights

GP: Grand Prix; CS: Challenger Series; JGP: Junior Grand Prix

Detailed results

Senior level

Junior level

References

1. "ISU World Standings for Single & Pair Skating and Ice Dance : Ladies". International Skating Union. March 3, 2018.
2. ^ "Уроженка Латвии Алина Урушадзе гордится тем, что выступает за Грузию". Грузия Online. 2019-02-13. Retrieved 2019-03-09.
3. ^ "Alina URUSHADZE: 2018/2019". International Skating Union. Archived from the original on March 31, 2019.{{cite web}}: CS1 maint: unfit URL (link)
4. ^ ""I didn't think it would be that hard. For some reason, I wasn't destined to go to this Olympics. So, I'll prepare for the next one." interview with Georgian skater Alina Urushadze". FS Gossips. FS Gossips. Retrieved 13 September 2024.
5. "На ЧЕ они могли выступать за Россию: ученик Тутберидзе, надежда Азербайджана и юные звезды из Грузии - 21 января 2020 - Sport24".
6. "2020 ISU European Figure Skating Championships Results". International Skating Union.
7. Ewing, Lori (March 11, 2020). "World figure skating championships cancelled in Montreal". CBC Sports.
8. "ISU GP Rostelecom Cup 2020". International Skating Union.
9. "ISU World Figure Skating Championships 2021 Results – Ladies". International Skating Union.
10. "Communication No. 2388". International Skating Union. April 1, 2021.
11. "Alina URUSHADZE: 2021/2022". International Skating Union. International Skating Union. Archived from the original on 18 March 2023. Retrieved 14 August 2023.{{cite web}}: CS1 maint: bot: original URL status unknown (link)
12. "Return". Facebook. Facebook. Retrieved 14 August 2023.
13. ^ "Alina URUSHADZE: 2023/2024". International Skating Union. International Skating Union. Archived from the original on 26 February 2024. Retrieved 14 August 2023.{{cite web}}: CS1 maint: bot: original URL status unknown (link)
14. ^ "Competition Results: Alina URUSHADZE". International Skating Union.
15. "Alina URUSHADZE: 2020/2021". International Skating Union. Archived from the original on November 19, 2020.{{cite web}}: CS1 maint: unfit URL (link)
16. "Alina URUSHADZE: 2019/2020". International Skating Union. Archived from the original on March 12, 2020.{{cite web}}: CS1 maint: unfit URL (link)

External links

• Alina Urushadze at the International Skating Union

• 2004 births
• Latvian female single skaters
• Female single skaters from Georgia (country)
• Living people
• Figure skaters from Moscow
• Figure skaters from Riga
• Figure skaters at the 2020 Winter Youth Olympics
• Latvian emigrants
• Immigrants to Russia