Darya Popova


Darya Popova is a Ukrainian ice dancer. With her skating partner, Volodymyr Byelikov, she is the 2017 Volvo Open Cup silver medalist and 2019 Ukrainian national champion on the senior level. The team has finished within the top twelve at two World Junior Championships.

Career

Early years

Popova began learning to skate in 2005. Early in her career, she skated with Vadym Kravtsov and Volodymyr Nakisko. During the 2015–2016 season, Popova/Nakisko competed at two ISU Junior Grand Prix events and won the bronze medal at the Ukrainian Junior Championships. They were coached by Halyna Churylova and Mariana Kozlova in Kharkiv.

2016–2017 season

Popova and Volodymyr Byelikov teamed up in 2016, coached by Halyna Churylova and Mariana Kozlova in Kharkiv. They made their international debut at the ISU Junior Grand Prix in the Czech Republic in early September 2016. They placed 8th in Ostrava and 7th at their next JGP assignment, in Tallinn, Estonia. The duo took silver at the senior-level Ukrainian Championship before winning gold at the junior event.
Popova/Byelikov were selected to represent Ukraine at the 2017 World Junior Championships in Taipei, Taiwan; they placed 11th in the short dance, 12th in the free dance, and 12th overall.

2017–2018 season

During the 2017 JGP series, Popova/Byelikov placed 6th competing in September in Minsk, Belarus, and 5th in early October in Gdańsk, Poland. Their senior international debut came in November at the Volvo Open Cup in Riga, Latvia. They won silver at the event, finishing second to Germany's Katharina Müller / Tim Dieck and ahead of Hungary's Anna Yanovskaya / Ádám Lukács.
Continuing on the senior level, Popova/Byelikov placed 9th at the 2017 CS Tallinn Trophy, 8th at the Santa Claus Cup, and second at the Ukrainian Championships. They were included in Ukraine's team to the 2018 European Championships, held in January in Moscow, but did not reach the free dance, placing 22nd in the short. In March, they competed at the 2018 World Junior Championships in Sofia, ranking 9th in the short, 11th in the free, and 11th overall.

2018–2019 season

Popova/Byelikov won bronze at their first 2018 Junior Grand Prix event in Lithuania, and then placed fourth in Slovenia. Following that, they competed at the 2018 CS Tallinn Trophy, placing fifth, and won their first Ukrainian national title. After a sixteenth-place finish at the 2019 European Championships, they competed at the 2019 World Junior Championships, placing eleventh.

Programs

With Byelikov

With Nakisko

Competitive highlights

CS: Challenger Series; JGP: Junior Grand Prix

With Byelikov

With Nakisko