Early Career
Alexander Smirnov began skating at the age of 3½. His first coach was Larisa Yakovleva. At the age of 16, Smirnov moved from Tver to St. Petersburg and switched to pair skating. He trained with Nikolai Velikov and former pair skater Lyudmila Smirnova. He skated with her daughter for a while, but they never competed. At the age of 20, he teamed up with singles skater, Alexandra Danilova, who was 14 years old. They only competed together twice in local competitions in Russia where they placed third and eighth. He then partnered with another singles skater, Ekaterina Vasilieva. With Vasilieva they were the 2006 Russian Junior Champions and 6th at the 2006 World Junior Championships. The couple broke up after one season together.
Read more about this topic: Alexander Smirnov (figure Skater)
Famous quotes containing the words early and/or career:
“Foolish prater, What dost thou
So early at my window do?
Cruel bird, thou’st ta’en away
A dream out of my arms to-day;
A dream that ne’er must equall’d be
By all that waking eyes may see.
Thou this damage to repair
Nothing half so sweet and fair,
Nothing half so good, canst bring,
Tho’ men say thou bring’st the Spring.”
—Abraham Cowley (1618–1667)
“Each of the professions means a prejudice. The necessity for a career forces every one to take sides. We live in the age of the overworked, and the under-educated; the age in which people are so industrious that they become absolutely stupid.”
—Oscar Wilde (1854–1900)