Sofja Stepčenko

Sofja Stepčenko (born 21 December 2006) is a Latvian figure skater. She is a two-time Latvian national champion (2022-23) and 2023 Volvo Open Cup champion. She placed eleventh at the 2023 European Championships.

Sofja Stepčenko
Stepčenko at the 2024 World Championships
Born	(2006-12-21) 21 December 2006 (age 18) Riga, Latvia
Height	1.62 m (5 ft 4 in)
Figure skating career
Country	Latvia
Coach	Stéphane Lambiel Angelo Dolfini Giulia Isceri Gerli Liinamäe
Skating club	Kristal Ice
Began skating	2010

Career

Early years

Stepčenko competed in the advanced novice category for two seasons and then moved up to the junior ranks.^[1] She made her ISU Junior Grand Prix (JGP) debut in September 2021.

2022–23 season

Stepčenko began her season on the Junior Grand Prix series, finishing twenty-first at the 2022 JGP France and twelfth at the 2022 JGP Latvia. In November, making her senior international debut, she placed fourth at the Volvo Open Cup and seventh at the Tallinn Trophy. Her first senior international medal, gold, came in December 2022 at the Latvia Trophy.^[2] The second-best Latvian woman at the event was Angelīna Kučvaļska, who finished in fifth place.

Stepčenko was nominated to represent Latvia at the 2023 European Championships, which took place in January in Helsinki, Finland. Ranked fourteenth in the short program, she qualified to the free skate and climbed to eleventh overall.^[3] This was the best European result by a Latvian woman since Angelina Kučvaļska's fourth place at the 2016 edition.^[4] Stepčenko came twenty-third at the 2023 World Championships.^[5]

2023–24 season

Stepčenko started the season by competing on the Junior Grand Prix series, finishing sixth at the 2023 JGP Turkey. She went on to compete on the senior international level as well, winning the 2023 Jelgava Cup and placing twelfth at the 2023 CS Nepela Memorial.^[5]

Appearing again on the Junior Grand Prix, Stepčenko finished tenth at the 2023 JGP Armenia. Her next event was the 2023 CS Budapest Trophy, where she finished eleventh. Going on to compete at two events in Latvia, Stepčenko won silver at the 2023 Volvo Open Cup and gold at the 2023 Latvia Trophy.^[5]

Selected to compete at the 2024 European Championships in Kaunas, Lithuania, Stepčenko placed twenty-first in the short program and thirteenth in the free skate, finishing thirteenth overall. At this event, Stepčenko scored a new personal best free skate score. ^[6] Soon after, Stepčenko competed on the junior level at the 2024 Volvo Open Cup, winning the gold medal.^[5]

Competing at the 2024 Youth Olympics, Stepčenko finished sixteenth.^[5]

2024–25 season

In July 2024, it was announced that Stepčenko was now being coached by Stéphane Lambiel in Champéry.^[7] Competing at the 2024 CS Nebelhorn Trophy, Stepčenko finished twelfth. Debuting on the 2024–25 Grand Prix circuit, Stepčenko finished twelfth at 2024 Skate America. She then went on to finish ninth at the 2024 CS Tallinn Trophy and at the 2024 Santa Claus Cup.^[5]

Programs

Season	Short program	Free skating	Exhibition
2024–2025 [8]	Bridges by Alika Milova choreo. by Giulia Isceri	Le Bal des folles by Asaf Avidan choreo. by Stéphane Lambiel
2023–2024 [9]	All Eyes On Me by Victor McKnight, SquigglyDigg choreo. by Ruslan Kuzlovich	Il est oú le bonheur by Christophe Maé choreo. by Ruslan Kuzlovich	We Are Number One (from LazyTown) by Máni Svavarsson & Stefán Karl Stefánsson
2022–2023 [10]
2021–2022 [11]

Competitive highlights

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

International[5]
Event	17–18	18–19	19–20	20–21	21–22	22–23	23–24	24–25
Worlds						23rd	31st
Europeans						11th	13th
GP Skate America								12th
CS Budapest Trophy							11th
CS Nebelhorn Trophy								12th
CS Nepela Memorial							12th
CS Tallinn Trophy						7th		9th
Jelgava Cup							1st
Latvia Trophy						1st	1st
Santa Claus Cup								9th
Volvo Open Cup						1st[a]	2nd
						4th[b]
Wolmar Spring Cup						1st
International: Junior[5][1]
JGP Youth Olympics							16th
JGP Armenia							10th
JGP Austria					26th
JGP France						21st
JGP Latvia						12th
JGP Poland					17th
JGP Turkey							6th
Kurbada Cup					2nd
Petrenko Cup					2nd
Volvo Open Cup				5th	2nd		1st
International: Advanced novice[1]
Volvo Open Cup	10th	16th	10th
National[1]
Latvian Champ.		5th N	3rd N			1st	1st
TBD = Assigned; WD = Withdrew Levels: N = Novice; J = Junior

Detailed results

ISU personal best scores in the +5/-5 GOE System ^[6]

Segment	Type	Score	Event
Total	TSS	159.34	2023 European Championships
Short program	TSS	58.87	2023 World Championships
	TES	34.84	2023 World Championships
	PCS	25.67	2024 CS Nebelhorn Trophy
Free skating	TSS	105.16	2024 European Championships
	TES	56.06	2024 European Championships
	PCS	52.07	2024 CS Nebelhorn Trophy

Current personal best scores are highlighted in bold.

Senior results

2024–25 season
Date	Event	SP	FS	Total
November 27–December 2, 2024	2024 Santa Claus Cup	11 45.88	6 93.08	9 138.96
November 12–17, 2024	2024 CS Tallinn Trophy	16 42.34	8 93.13	9 135.47
October 18–20, 2024	2024 Skate America	11 44.56	12 93.36	12 137.92
September 19–21, 2024	2024 CS Nebelhorn Trophy	11 53.29	13 91.98	12 145.27
2023–24 season
Date	Event	SP	FS	Total
March 18–24, 2024	2024 World Championships	31 46.74	-	31 46.74
January 10–14,2024	2024 European Chamipnships	21 52.53	13 105.16	13 157.69
December 8–10, 2023	2023 Latvia Trophy	1 60.01	1 110.75	1 170.76
November 2–5, 2023	2023 Volvo Open Cup	2 53.60	1 110.77	2 164.37
October 13–15, 2023	2023 CS Budapest Trophy	7 56.81	18 91.38	11 148.19
September 28–30 2023	2023 CS Nepela Memorial	15 47.48	11 94.75	12 142.23
September 28–30 2023	2023 Jelgava Cup	1 62.05	1 109.85	1 171.90
2022–23 season
Date	Event	SP	FS	Total
April 7–9, 2023	2023 Wolmar Spring Cup	1 60.80	2 99.07	1 159.87
March 22–26, 2023	2023 World Championships	18 58.87	24 99.51	23 158.38
January 25–29, 2023	2023 European Championships	14 55.32	11 104.02	11 159.34
January 19–22, 2023	2023 Volvo Open Cup	3 56.10	1 118.56	1 174.66
December 16–18, 2022	2022 Latvia Trophy	2 58.64	1 119.07	1 177.71
November 24–27, 2022	2022 Tallinn Trophy	9 47.80	4 97.66	7 145.46
November 3–4, 2022	2022 Volvo Open Cup	10 48.65	2 111.62	4 160.27

Junior results

2023–24 season
Date	Event	SP	FS	Total
January 28–30, 2024	2024 Winter Youth Olympics	16 44.77	16 76.02	16 120.79
January 10–14,2024	2024 Volvo Open Cup	1 56.67	2 103.31	1 159.98
October 4–7, 2023	2023 JGP Armenia	13 46.23	10 93.78	10 140.01
September 6–8, 2023	2023 JGP Turkey	15 56.78	11 100.63	12 157.41
2022–23 season
Date	Event	SP	FS	Total
September 7–10, 2022	2022 JGP Latvia	18 43.24	9 96.75	12 139.99
August 24–27, 2022	2022 JGP France	22 34.11	20 66.07	21 100.18
2021–22 season
Date	Event	SP	FS	Total
April 8–10, 2022	2022 Kurbada Cup	3 44.83	2 90.73	2 135.56
November 3–7, 2021	2021 Volvo Open Cup	2 48.51	6 78.36	2 126.87
October 20–23, 2021	2021 Petrenko Cup	2 48.55	2 97.23	2 145.78
October 6–9, 2021	2021 JGP Austria	16 46.16	31 60.48	26 106.64
September 29–October 2, 2021	2021 JGP Poland	22 35.38	14 74.18	17 109.56
2020–21 season
Date	Event	SP	FS	Total
November 7–8, 2020	2020 Volvo Open Cup	5 41.20	5 66.32	5 107.52

References

1. 48th Volvo Cup Open
2. 47th Volvo Cup Open

1. "Sofja STEPCHENKO". rinkresults.com. Retrieved 18 February 2023.
2. Druvietis, Gatis (18 December 2022). "Daiļslidotāja Stepčenko pārsteidzoši triumfē "Latvia Trophy", uzvar arī Vasiļjevs". sportacentrs.com. Archived from the original on 25 December 2022.
3. "Stepčenko izcīna 11. vietu Eiropas daiļslidošanas čempionātā". LETA (in Latvian). sports.tvnet.lv. 28 January 2023. Archived from the original on 28 January 2023.
4. Dilāns, Kristiāns (2 February 2023). "Daiļslidotājas Stepčenko trenere: "Būtu ļoti priecīgas arī par 24. vietu"". sportacentrs.com (in Latvian). Archived from the original on 3 February 2023.
5. "Competition Results: Sofja STEPCENKO". International Skating Union. Archived from the original on 18 February 2023.
6. "LAT-Sofja STEPCENKO". Skating Scores.
7. Anything GOEs [@AnythingGOEs] (July 9, 2024). "🇱🇻 Sofja Stepcenko is now being coached by Stéphane Lambiel and the rest of the team in Champéry" (Tweet) – via Twitter.
8. "Sofja STEPCENKO: 2024/2025". International Skating Union. Archived from the original on 20 September 2024.
9. "Sofja STEPCENKO: 2023/2024". International Skating Union. Archived from the original on 5 March 2024.
10. "Sofja STEPCENKO: 2022/2023". International Skating Union. Archived from the original on 18 February 2023.
11. "Sofja STEPCENKO: 2021/2022". International Skating Union. Archived from the original on 2 April 2022.

External links

• Sofja Stepcenko at the International Skating Union
• Sofja Stepčenko on Instagram