Fast Track To The Top
It has been an almost meteoric rise to the top for Russian pairs team Aleksandra Boikova and Dmitrii Kozlovskii, who first caught the world’s attention when they claimed the silver medal at the World Junior Championships in Taipei City in 2017.
That success motivated the team to set higher goals for the following season, but all did not go as planned.
Though they captured gold at their first senior event in Minsk, Belarus, and mined silver at Warsaw Cup in Poland a month later, they finished fifth at the Junior Grand Prix Final. That competition would be their last international of the season.
Boikova and Kozlovskii did not skate well at the Russian Championships, finishing fifth in seniors and fourth at the junior level. That disappointing result precluded them from qualifying for the 2018 World Junior Championships.
The duo were given permission by their coaches, the legendary Tamara Moskvina and 31-year-old Artur Minchuk, a former pairs skater, to move up to the senior level for the 2018-2019 season. It was a wise decision, which took the pressure off Boikova and Kozlovskii. Few were expecting top results from the team given their not so successful final season at the junior level, and the fact that they were newcomers on the senior scene.
However, their first year in the big leagues was relatively successful. They won two Challenger Series medals, captured bronze at their second Grand Prix in France and another at the Russian Championships.
Minsk was once again a lucky place for Boikova and Kozlovskii, who finished third at the 2018 European Championships, just 0.14 of a point ahead of the Italian team of Nicole Della Monica and Matteo Guarise. Kozlovskii described that result as a miracle.
The St. Petersburg team closed out their
