Ilia Denisovich Karankevich (Russian: Илья Денисович Каранкевич, Greek: Ηλία Καράνεβιτς, born 8 January 2004) is a Russian-born Cypriot ice dancer who competes for Cyprus. With his skating partner, Angelina Kudryavtseva, he is the 2023 Cypriot national champion,[1] the 2021 JGP Poland bronze medalist, and competed in the free dance at two World Junior Championships.
Personal life
Karankevich was born on 8 January 2004 in Tiumen, Russia.
Kudryavtseva/Karankevich made their junior international debut in August 2019 at the NRW Trophy where they placed fifth in the junior division. From there, the team received two Junior Grand Prix assignments, and at the 2019 JGP France and 2019 JGP Latvia they finished fourteenth and tenth, respectively. They competed six more times internationally in the lead up to the 2020 World Junior Championships, including taking the junior title at the 2019 Open d'Andorra and earning the junior silver medal at 2019 Grand Prix of Bratislava. At Junior Worlds in March, they placed eighteenth in the rhythm dance, which qualified them to advance in the competition. In the free dance, the team dropped to twentieth place in the segment and overall.[2]
2020–21 season
Due to the COVID-19 pandemic, Kudryavtseva/Karankevich only had the opportunity to compete twice internationally during the 2020–21 season. They took the junior ice dance titles at the 2020 Ice Star in October 2020 and the 2021 LuMi Dance Trophy in February 2021.[3]
2021–22 season
Kudryavtseva/Karankevich opened their third junior season at the 2021 JGP Slovakia in Košice. They set a new personal best to place fourth in the rhythm dance, but later dropped to seventh in the free dance and seventh overall.[3] At their second JGP assignment, 2021 JGP Poland, Kudryavtseva/Karankevich placed fourth in the rhythm dance, scoring just shy of their personal best, but advanced onto the podium by scoring a new personal best in the free dance to place third in that segment and third overall. Their bronze medal was the first medal for Cyprus in ice dance on the Junior Grand Prix circuit.[4]
Due to the pandemic, the 2022 World Junior Championships could not be held as scheduled in Sofia in early March, and as a result were rescheduled for Tallinn in mid-April.[5] Due to Vladimir Putin's invasion of Ukraine, the International Skating Union banned all Russian and Belarusian athletes from participating, which had a significant impact on the dance field.[6] Kudryavtseva/Karankevich placed fifth in the rhythm dance with a new personal best score of 62.15.[7] They were eighth in the free dance, dropping to eighth overall.[8]
During their first Junior Grand Prix assignment at the 2023 JGP Austria, Kudryavtseva/Karankevich collided with another team during practice, leading to Kudryavtseva breaking two bones. Subsequently, Kudryavtseva/Karankevich withdrew from both of their Junior Grand Prix assignments.[9]
Kudryavtseva/Karankevich competed in their first competition of the season at the 2024 World Junior Championships, where they placed eleventh.[3]
