Maria Pavlova and Alexei Sviatchenko step off the gas pedal in Olympic season transformation
Good things come to those who wait, but sometimes no waiting is necessary.
Hungarian pairs skaters Maria Pavlova and Alexei Sviatchenko shot into the spotlight in the 2023-24 season – only their second of skating together – with podium finishes in both their Grand Prix assignments and impressive fourth places at the world championships, European championships, and Grand Prix Final.
Expectations were high for the following season, so when their results failed to live up to the hype, the disappointment felt even more raw.
When the curtain fell on the 2025 World Figure Skating Championships in Boston – where they earned Hungary an Olympic quota for Milano Cortina 2026 Olympic Games but dropped to eighth place in the standings – it was time to make some drastic changes.
The duo went back to their training base and started re-creating their figure skating identity.
“We noticed a slight stagnation,” Sviatchenko told Olympics.com. “And when something stops working, it’s time to make a change.”
Pavlova and Sviatchenko worked with two new choreographers and travelled abroad to put their programs together. By the time the 2025-26 season rolled around, they were ready to present a fresh look to spectators.
Their high-power tributes to musicians Prince, Tom Jones, and Queen had bit the dust, to be replaced with softer skates with deep, personal messages behind them.
A risky overhaul to make during the Olympic season, it is paying off big for the Hungarian pair so far. Pavlova and Sviatchenko have already reached four podiums and upgraded two personal best scores, but most importantly, they discovered a new sense of gratitude in their skating.
“We started this season from scratch,” Pavlova told Olympics.com. “We started thinking differently. We started appreciating the small things that we wouldn’t have appreciated two seasons ago because we didn’t have any difficulties back then. Everything had gone well, but now there were difficulties.
“And we started appreciating each other. We started supporting each other. Our relationship as teammates became much better.”
