Hristina Vassileva
Vassileva at the 2011 European Championships
Native nameХристина Василева-Жечева
Other namesVassileva-Zhecheva
Born (1984-07-22) July 22, 1984
Sofia, Bulgaria
Height1.70 m (5 ft 7 in)
Figure skating career
CountryBulgaria
Skating clubKFP Levski Sofia
Began skating1988
Retired2017

Hristina Vassileva-Zhecheva (Bulgarian: Христина Василева-Жечева, born July 22, 1984) is a Bulgarian figure skating coach and choreographer in USA, and former competitor. She is six time Bulgarian national champion and reached the free skate at four ISU Championships. She achieved her best result, 16th, at the 2001 European Championships.

Personal life

Hristina Vassileva was born on 22 July 1984 in Sofia, Bulgaria.[1] She is the granddaughter of Dimitar Drazhev.[2] Since her marriage to Vyacheslav Zhechev in 2010,[1] her surname may also appear as Vassileva-Zhecheva.[3] She has two daughters – Isabella (born 2012) and Sofia (born 2013). In July 2016, the family moved to Miami, Florida, United States for work.

Career

Vassileva was selected to represent Bulgaria at the 2000 World Junior Championships in Oberstdorf, Germany. Ranked 9th in qualifying group B, she advanced to the short program, where she placed 15th, allowing her to compete in the final segment. She placed 20th in the free skate and 19th overall.

In the 2000–01 season, Vassileva was named in Bulgaria's team to the 2001 European Championships in Bratislava, Slovakia. She placed 18th in the short and 15th in the free, resulting in a final placement of 16th. The 2001 World Junior Championships were held in Sofia, Bulgaria. Like a year earlier, Vassileva finished 19th overall, after placing 25th in the short program and 16th in the free. Concluding her season, she progressed past the qualifying round at the 2001 World Championship in Vancouver, British Columbia, Canada, but was eliminated after placing 27th in the short program.

Vassileva competed at the 2002 World Championships in Nagano, Japan but did not advance to the short program. She was coached by Ludmila Mladenova in Sofia until the end of the 2001–02 season.[4]

In 2002–03, Vassileva trained under Rafael Arutyunyan in Los Angeles, as well as in Sofia.[5] She was unable to reach the free skate at an ISU Championship, being eliminated after the short program at the 2003 European Championships in Malmö, Sweden, and after the qualifying round at the 2003 World Championships in Washington, D.C.

In 2003–04,[6] Naiden Borichev began coaching Vassileva in Sofia, while continuing his competitive career in men's singles.[2] Vassileva failed to progress out of her qualifying group at the 2004 World Championships in Dortmund, Germany.

By the 2010–11 season, Vassileva was being coached by Teodor Yotov[7] in Sofia.[1] She reached her fourth ISU Championship free skate at the 2011 European Championships in Bern, Switzerland. Ranked 20th in the short and 22nd in the free, she finished 23rd overall. In April 2011, she won the Bulgarian national title.[8]

Vassileva made no competitive appearances because of maternity reasons during the following seasons until October 2015, when she returned and competed at the 2015 Denkova-Staviski Cup in Sofia.[9] In December, she won another Bulgarian national title.[10] She also competed at the 2015 CS Golden Spin of Zagreb, NRW Trophy, Sofia Trophy, and Sportland Trophy.

In 2016, Vassileva began training with Kent Johnson at Kendall Ice Arena in Miami, Florida. She also works as a coach at the rink.[11]

In January 2017, Vassileva attended at European Figure Skating Championship in Ostrava, Czech Republic. At the championship she was the oldest skater with 32 years of age. Because of injury she didn't skate her best and after the competition she decided to retire after almost 29 years on the ice. Now she works successfully as a Figure Skating Coach.

Programs

Season Short program Free skating
2016–17
  • "Юначе карат вързано" - "Hero lead him tied" (Bulgarian folk song inspired instrumental: high-pitched bagpipe, percussions and synthesizer;)
    by Petar Atanaschev and Kiril Dobrev
2015–16
2010–11
[1]
2006–07
[2][12]
2004–05
[13]
  • Devdas
2003–04
[6]
  • Aurora
    performed by Vanessa-Mae
2002–03
[5]
  • Jazz
  • Music
    by Gipsy Kings
    Santana
    Cirque du Soleil
    Shakira
2001–02
[4]
2000–01
[14]
  • Latin music

Results

CS: Challenger Series; JGP: Junior Grand Prix

2004–05 to 2015–16

International[9]
Event 04–05 05–06 06–07 07–08 08–09 09–10 10–11 15–16 16–17
Worlds37th37th
Europeans23rd34th
CS Denkova-Staviski13th
CS Golden Spin16th
Crystal Skate4th
Golden Spin6th11th12th
Ice Challenge18th
Nepela Memorial11th
NRW Trophy3rd17th16th
Schäfer Memorial14th
Sofia Trophy5th
Sportland Trophy8th
Universiade19th
National[9]
Bulgarian Champ.2nd2nd2nd2nd2nd3rd1st2nd
WD = Withdrew

1997–98 to 2003–04

International[9]
Event 97–98 98–99 99–00 00–01 01–02 02–03 03–04
Worlds26th35th39th31st
Europeans16th28th
Golden Spin14th21st9th
International: Junior[9]
Junior Worlds19th19th
JGP Bulgaria23rd22nd13th
JGP Netherlands20th19th
JGP Poland12th
JGP Slovenia10th
JGP Sweden22nd
Crystal Skate1st J
National[9]
Bulgarian Champ.4th1st1st1st1st2nd
J = Junior level

References

  1. 1 2 3 4 "Hristina VASSILEVA: 2010/2011". International Skating Union. Archived from the original on 23 September 2011.{{cite web}}: CS1 maint: unfit URL (link)
  2. 1 2 3 Mittan, Barry (11 June 2006). "Bulgarian Skater Brings Figure Skating to India". SkateToday.
  3. ↑ "NRW Trophy for Single & Pair Skating Senior Ladies Result". lev-nrw.org. 29 November 2015.
  4. 1 2 "Hristina VASSILEVA: 2001/2002". International Skating Union. Archived from the original on 12 June 2002.{{cite web}}: CS1 maint: unfit URL (link)
  5. 1 2 "Hristina VASSILEVA: 2002/2003". International Skating Union. Archived from the original on 25 June 2003.{{cite web}}: CS1 maint: unfit URL (link)
  6. 1 2 "Hristina VASSILEVA: 2003/2004". International Skating Union. Archived from the original on 3 June 2004.{{cite web}}: CS1 maint: unfit URL (link)
  7. ↑ "Short Track Speed Skating live© - Information - Results".
  8. ↑ Arsov, Emil (3 April 2011). "Христина Василева спечели титлата в Зимния дворец" [Hristina Vassileva wins title]. novsport.com (in Bulgarian).
  9. 1 2 3 4 5 6 "Competition Results: Hristina VASSILEVA". International Skating Union. Archived from the original on 24 April 2014.
  10. ↑ "Христина Василева с титлата при жените на държавното първенство по фигурно пързаляне" [Hristina Vassileva wins ladies' figure skating title]. sportal.bg (in Bulgarian). 20 December 2015.
  11. ↑ "Coaching staff". Kendall Ice Arena. Archived from the original on 4 February 2017.{{cite web}}: CS1 maint: unfit URL (link)
  12. ↑ "Hristina VASSILEVA: 2006/2007". International Skating Union. Archived from the original on 30 April 2007.{{cite web}}: CS1 maint: unfit URL (link)
  13. ↑ "Hristina VASSILEVA: 2004/2005". International Skating Union. Archived from the original on 4 April 2005.{{cite web}}: CS1 maint: unfit URL (link)
  14. ↑ "Hristina VASSILEVA: 2000/2001". International Skating Union. Archived from the original on 20 April 2001.{{cite web}}: CS1 maint: unfit URL (link)

Media related to Hristina Vassileva at Wikimedia Commons

This article is issued from Wikipedia. The text is licensed under Creative Commons - Attribution - Sharealike. Additional terms may apply for the media files.