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Jelizaveta Žuková Elizaveta Zhuk
Full name	Elizaveta Valeriyevna Zhuk
Native name	Елизавета Валерьевна Жук (Russian)
Other names	Yelizaveta Jelizaveta Žuk/Žuková
Born	(2003-11-02) 2 November 2003 (age 21) Yekaterinburg, Russia
Height	1.60 m (5 ft 3 in)
Figure skating career
Country	Czech Republic (2019–23)  Russia (2014–18)
Discipline	Pair skating
Partner	Martin Bidař (2019–23) Egor Britkov (2014–18)
Began skating	2007
Retired	December 22, 2022
Medal record
Czech Championships 2020 Ostrava Pairs 2021 Cieszyn Pairs

Jelizaveta Žuková or Elizaveta Valeriyevna Zhuk (Russian: Елизавета Валерьевна Жук; born 2 November 2003) is a former Russian-Czech pair skater who competes for the Czech Republic. With her skating partner, Martin Bidař, she is a two-time Czech national champion (2020–2021) and represented the Czech Republic at the 2022 Winter Olympics.

Personal life

Elizaveta Zhuk was born on 2 November 2003 in Yekaterinburg, Russia. In December 2021, she became a Czech citizen. Her name changed to Jelizaveta Žuková, with a feminine suffix added to the Czech transliteration of her Russian name.

Career

Early career

Zhuk began learning to skate in 2007. Training in pairs, early partners included Maxim Miroshkin and Evgeniy Kostarev. She competed with Egor Britkov for three seasons, placing fourth at the 2017 Russian Junior Championships and winning a silver medal at the 2017 CS Golden Spin of Zagreb the following season.

2019–2020 season

On June 26, 2019, Zhuk announced a new partnership with Czech pair skater Martin Bidař, with plans to represent his country. They competed exclusively domestically in their first season together, winning the Czech national title.

2020–2021 season

With the COVID-19 pandemic limiting international opportunities, Zhuk/Bidař made their debut internationally at the 2020 CS Nebelhorn Trophy, one of only four pairs on the preliminary entry list. They were fifth in the short, fourth in the free, and fourth overall. They subsequently competed at the 2021 World Championships, placing fifteenth and, in the process, qualifying for a berth for a Czech pair at the 2022 Winter Olympics.

2021–22 season

In September, the Czech federation officially named Zhuk and Bidař to the Czech Olympic team. They made their debut at the 2021 Finlandia Trophy, where they placed ninth. They later competed at a second Challenger event, finishing twelfth at the 2021 Warsaw Cup.

Zhuk opted to restyle her name as Jelizaveta Žuková in advance of the Olympics. Žuková and Bidař made their European Championship debut in Tallinn, finishing in twelfth place.

Žuková and Bidař began the 2022 Winter Olympics as the Czech entries in the pairs' Olympic team event, where they placed eighth of nine teams, earning three points for the Czech team. Team Czech Republic did not advance to the next stage of the competition and finished eighth overall. With two falls in the short program of the pairs event, they finished seventeenth and missed qualification for the free skate. Žuková sustained an ankle injury in training; as a result of which they did not compete at the 2022 World Championships.

In March 2022, Žuková liked an Instagram post by Evgeni Plushenko expressing support for the 2022 Russian invasion of Ukraine. The president of the Czech Figure Skating Association noted that the federation strongly disagreed with her position and distanced itself. The president explained to Žuková the unsuitability of her conduct and asked her to apologize for her decision. Žuková apologized, stating that her decision was due to "youthful recklessness" and "misreading and misunderstanding" the post; the president deemed the apology sufficient.

2022–23 season

Žuková and Bidař placed eighth at the 2022 Nebelhorn Trophy to start the season before placing sixth at the 2022 Skate Canada International.

In December 2022, it was announced that the pair had split.

Programs

Pair skating with Martin Bidař (for the Czech Republic)

Pair skating with Egor Britkov (for Russia)

Competitive highlights

Pair skating with Martin Bidař (for the Czech Republic)

1. As Jelizaveta Žuková had not yet been released from Russia to compete internationally, she and Martin Bidař competed in the Czech Championships, but not the Four Nationals Championships.

Pair skating with Egor Britkov (for Russia)

Detailed results

Pair skating with Martin Bidař (for the Czech Republic)

Results in the 2019–20 season 

Date	Event	SP		FS		Total
		P	Score	P	Score	P	Score
Dec 13–14, 2019	2020 Czech Championships	1	49.12	1	94.47	1	143.59

Results in the 2020–21 season 

Date	Event	SP		FS		Total
		P	Score	P	Score	P	Score
Sep 23–26, 2020	2020 CS Nebelhorn Trophy	5	51.20	4	91.83	4	143.03
Dec 10–12, 2020	2021 Four Nationals Championships	1	55.83	1	87.67	1	143.50
Dec 10–12, 2020	2021 Czech Championships	1	—	1	—	1	—
Feb 26–28, 2021	2021 International Challenge Cup	5	54.13	4	108.98	4	163.11
Mar 22–28, 2021	2021 World Championships	16	54.30	15	102.99	15	157.29

Results in the 2021–22 season 

Date	Event	SP		FS		Total
		P	Score	P	Score	P	Score
Oct 7–10, 2021	2021 CS Finlandia Trophy	9	48.36	10	93.90	9	142.26
Oct 27–30, 2021	2021 Autumn Talents Cup	1	46.96	1	91.44	1	138.40
Nov 17–20, 2021	2021 CS Warsaw Cup	8	60.88	12	96.25	12	157.13
Jan 10–16, 2022	2022 European Championships	15	54.40	10	105.33	12	159.73
Feb 4–7, 2022	2022 Winter Olympics (Team event)	8	56.70	—	—	8	—
Feb 18–19, 2022	2022 Winter Olympics	17	54.64	—	—	17	54.64

Results in the 2022–23 season 

Date	Event	SP		FS		Total
		P	Score	P	Score	P	Score
Sep 21–24, 2022	2022 CS Nebelhorn Trophy	9	49.67	8	97.65	8	147.32
Oct 28–30, 2022	2022 Skate Canada International	6	52.84	7	100.66	6	153.50

1. As Jelizaveta Žuková had not yet been released from Russia to compete internationally, she and Martin Bidař competed in the Czech Championships, but not the Four Nationals Championships.
2. In the Czech Republic, the Czech Championships are contested as part of the Four Nationals Championships.

References

1. "Krasobruslařka Žuková má české občanství a může s Bidařem na ZOH". idnes.cz (in Czech). 22 December 2021. Archived from the original on 22 December 2021.
2. "Жук Елизавета Валерьевна" [Zhuk Elizaveta Valeriyevna]. fskate.ru (in Russian). Archived from the original on 14 May 2019.
3. ^ "Competition Results: Elizaveta ZHUK / Egor BRITKOV". International Skating Union.
4. ^ "Competition Results: Elizaveta ZHUK / Martin BIDAR". International Skating Union.
5. "2020 NEBELHORN TROPHY". International Figure Skating. September 19, 2020. Archived from the original on March 22, 2021. Retrieved September 28, 2021.
6. "ISU CS Nebelhorn Trophy 2020 Results". International Skating Union.
7. "Communication No. 2388". International Skating Union. April 1, 2021.
8. Czech Figure Skating (27 September 2021). "ak ještě jednou i s grafikou!💪 Natálie Taschlerová a Filip Taschler jedou na Olympiádu! Hezky se to čte, že?😍🤩 Tak si to pojďme shrnout – čtyři kategorie, čtyři čeští zástupci.💙🇨🇿" (Instagram). Archived from the original on 2021-12-26.
9. Slater, Paula (February 4, 2022). "Team USA leads Olympic Figure Skating Team Event". Golden Skate.
10. Slater, Paula (February 7, 2022). "ROC wins Olympic figure skating team event". Golden Skate.
11. Penny, Brandon (February 18, 2022). "Re-live the record-setting Olympic pairs short program". NBC Sports.
12. "Sportovní dvojice Žuková, Bidař nebude závodit na MS ve Francii. Za vše může zranění" [Sports pair Žuková, Bidař will not compete at the World Championships in France. Injury is to blame]. Czech Television (in Czech). March 16, 2022.
13. "Žuková lituje svého lajku na sociálních sítích, svaz je proti agresi Ruska" [Žuková regrets her likes on social media, the federation is against Russia's aggression] (in Czech). Czech Figure Skating Association. 2 March 2022.
14. "Split". Instagram. Instagram. Retrieved 14 August 2023.
15. "Elizaveta ZHUK / Martin BIDAR: 2022/2023". International Skating Union. Archived from the original on 1 November 2022.
16. "Elizaveta ZHUK / Martin BIDAR: 2021/2022". International Skating Union. Archived from the original on 20 September 2021.
17. "Elizaveta ZHUK / Martin BIDAR: 2020/2021". International Skating Union. Archived from the original on 3 June 2021.
18. "Elizaveta ZHUK / Egor BRITKOV: 2017/2018". International Skating Union.
19. ^ "CZE–Jelizaveta Zukova/Martin Bidar". SkatingScores.

External links

• Elizaveta ZHUK / Martin BIDAR at the International Skating Union
• Elizaveta ZHUK / Egor BRITKOV at the International Skating Union
• Elizaveta Zhuk on Instagram
• Jelizaveta Žuková at Olympedia (archive)
• Jelizaveta Žuková at Olympics.com
• Jelizaveta Žuková at Olympijskytym.cz (in Czech)

• 2003 births
• Living people
• Czech female pair skaters
• Russian female pair skaters
• Figure skaters from Yekaterinburg
• Naturalized citizens of the Czech Republic
• Russian emigrants to the Czech Republic
• Figure skaters at the 2022 Winter Olympics
• Olympic figure skaters for the Czech Republic
• 21st-century Russian sportswomen