Adian Pitkeev was born on 16 May 1998 in Moscow.[1]
Career
After watching Alexei Yagudin at the 2002 Olympics, Pitkeev expressed interest in skating to his mother, who brought him to an ice rink.[2] Olga Volobueva coached him until 2009. He then joined Eteri Tutberidze's group at Olympic School No. 37.
In the 2013–14 season, Pitkeev won the silver medal in Riga, Latvia, and then gold in Gdańsk, Poland competing on the 2013 JGP series.[3] He qualified for his first Junior Grand Prix Final and won the silver medal in Fukuoka, Japan. At the Russian Championships, Pitkeev placed fifth in his second appearance on the senior level and then won the junior title, finishing 1.88 points ahead of Petrov. At the 2014 World Junior Championships, Pitkeev won the silver medal after placing seventh in the short and second in the free skate.
Pitkeev started the 2015–16 season on the Challenger Series, placing fourth at the 2015 Ondrej Nepela Trophy. A recipient of two Grand Prix invitations,[5] he placed 5th at the 2015 Skate America before winning his first GP medal, silver, at the 2015 Rostelecom Cup. In December, he was awarded the bronze medal at a CS event, the 2015 Golden Spin of Zagreb, behind Adam Rippon of the United States. Later that month, he placed 3rd in the short, 11th in the free, and 9th overall at the 2016 Russian Championships. He competed with a back injury at the Russian nationals and had to take painkillers.[6] He later underwent treatment in Germany, the United States, and Russia.[7]
On 13 September, Pitkeev withdrew from both of his 2016–17 Grand Prix assignments, the Trophée de France and NHK Trophy,[9][10] due to his back injury.[11] In December, Buianova said that he was continuing treatment and had not yet returned to the ice.[7]
In late June, Pitkeev announced his retirement from singles skating due to chronic back injuries and that he would switch to ice dance. It was later announced that he teamed up with Alisa Lozko and that the team would be coached by Elena Ilinykh.[12][13] They never competed together.
In a 2017 interview, Pitkeev said that a slight congenital spinal deformity may have contributed to his back problems.[14]
^Питкеев Адьян Юрьевич [Adian Yuryevich Pitkeev] (in Russian). Russian Figure Skating Federation. Archived from the original on 26 October 2014.
^Ermolina, Olga (6 December 2013). Адьян Питкеев: «За этот сезон я очень сильно прибавил» [Adian Pitkeev: "I worked very hard this season"] (in Russian). Russian Figure Skating Federation. Archived from the original on 2 January 2014.{{cite news}}: CS1 maint: unfit URL (link)