Sofiia Nesterova
# Sofiia Nesterova

Sofiia Nesterova (Ukrainian: Софія Нестерова; born 21 August 2003) is a retired Ukrainian pair skater. With her former partner, Artem Darenskyi, she is a two-time Ukrainian national senior champion. The pair has competed in the final segment at two World Junior Championships, finishing within the top eight at the 2019 edition.

## Career

### Early years

Nesterova began learning to skate in 2006. In February 2017, she won the Ukrainian junior ladies' title ahead of Anastasia Arkhipova and Anastasia Hozhva. She was too young to compete as a junior internationally.

Before 2016, she also trained in pair skating with Denys Strekalin.

### 2017–2018 season

Nesterova became age-eligible for junior international events at the start of the season. Coached by Maryna Amirkhanova in Kyiv, she competed at two ISU Junior Grand Prix assignments, placing 8th in Minsk, Belarus, and then 12th in Egna, Italy.

Around November 2017, Nesterova teamed up with Artem Darenskyi to compete in pairs, coached by Lilia Batutina in Dnipro. Their training was limited due to a leg injury sustained by Nesterova but the pair decided to compete at the Ukrainian Championships in December.

Nesterova/Darenskyi's international debut came in early February 2018 at the Toruń Cup in Poland. They won bronze and obtained the minimum technical scores required to compete at the 2018 World Junior Championships in Sofia. At the March event in Bulgaria, they qualified to the final segment and went on to finish 14th overall.

### 2018–2019 season

Nesterova/Darenskyi competed at two ISU Junior Grand Prix events in September, placing fifth in Linz, Austria, and eighth in Ostrava, Czech Republic. In December, they won their second senior national title. Ranked eighth in both segments, they finished eighth at the 2019 World Junior Championships in March in Zagreb, Croatia.

### 2019–2020 season

Nestrova/Darenski placed twelfth and tenth at their two JGP events. They were fifth at the Volvo Open Cup in November. In December, they were nineteenth at the 2019 CS Golden Spin of Zagreb. They placed third at Nationals. They were chosen to compete at the 2020 Youth Olympic Games. Their Junior Pairs result became disqualified, though they were part of the bronze-medalling winning team in the Team Event. They were disqualified at the 2020 European Championships.

On March 20, it was announced that Nestrova and Darenski were splitting up, as Nestrova had retired.

## Programs

### Pairs with Darenskyi

| Season | Short program | Free skating |
| - | - | - |
| 2019–2020 | Don Juan by Félix Gray choreo. by Nadezhda Krasniak, Irina Voroninskaia | Braveheart by James Horner choreo. by Nadezhda Krasniak, Irina Voroninskaia |
| 2018–2019 | Dark Eyes choreo. by Lilia Batutina | Nerves at the Limit choreo. by Lilia Batutina |
| 2017–2018 | Dark Eyes choreo. by Yulia Horbacheva | Nerves at the Limit choreo. by Yulia Horbacheva |

### Ladies' singles

| Season | Short program | Free skating |
| - | - | - |
| 2017–2018 | Just For You by Giovanni Marradi choreo. by Natalia Vorobieva | Tango Amore by Edvin Marton choreo. by Natalia Vorobieva |

## Competitive highlights

CS: Challenger Series; JGP: Junior Grand Prix

### Pairs with Darenskyi

International :

| Event | 2017–18 | 2018–19 | 2019–20 |
| - | - | - | - |
| Europeans | | | DSQ |
| CS Golden Spin | | | 19th |
| Volvo Open Cup | | | 5th |
| International: Junior ||||
| Junior Worlds | 14th | 8th | |
| Youth Olympics | | | DSQ |
| JGP Austria | | 5th | |
| JGP Croatia | | | 12th |
| JGP Czech Rep. | | 8th | |
| JGP Poland | | | 10th |
| Toruń Cup | 3rd | | |
| National ||||
| Ukraine | 1st | 1st | 3rd |
| Ukraine: Junior | 1st | 1st | |
| Team events ||||
| Youth Olympics | | | 3rd |
| TBD = Assigned; WD = Withdrew; DSQ = Disqualified ||||

### Ladies' singles

International: Junior :

| Event | 2015–16 | 2016–17 | 2017–18 |
| - | - | - | - |
| JGP Belarus | | | 8th |
| JGP Italy | | | 12th |
| International: Advanced novice ||||
| Bavarian Open | 3rd | | |
| Santa Claus Cup | | 4th | |
| National ||||
| Ukrainian Jr. Champ. | 6th | 1st | |
