By: Dylan Nazareth

At just 20 years old, Stephen Gogolev has already had a storied skating career, coloured with record-breaking scores and international medals. But he’s also faced great adversity in battling a number of season-ending injuries, including over the past two years.

Stephen Gogolev

Now, things are looking up for Gogolev. Speaking at Skate Canada High Performance Camp in August, the young skater shared that he’s feeling good heading into the Olympic season.

“This is the first time in quite a long time that I’m feeling healthy for an extended period of time,” said Gogolev. “It helps me train more relaxed and confidently.”

With his body cooperating, the Granite Club skater has had more time to focus on his on-ice abilities. This summer, Gogolev spent a month in Italy, and later time in New Jersey, training with coach and mentor Benoît Richaud. Under his guidance, Gogolev worked on cleaning up his programs and fine-tuning his skating skills.

“Lots of hard training to begin with,” he shared, of his time with Richaud. “He fixed a couple of things in the programs, worked a lot on the choreography, jumps, technique, everything.”

Both of Gogolev’s programs this season are choreographed by Richaud. The short is the same as last year, but Gogolev is showcasing a brand-new free, skated to Piano Concerto No. 2 by Sergei Rachmaninoff.

“I think [the free] is a good contrast compared to the short program, which is more fun and playful,” he shared. “The free program is more serious and classical.”

And that new program is already shining on the ice. Competing at the Cranberry Cup in early August, Gogolev managed a career-best skate in the free, finishing third overall for his first international medal in two years. While his short didn’t go according to plan in Boston, it’s a strong start to what is set to be a big year for the Toronto native.

“Overall, I’m pretty happy with the way I competed the free program,” said Gogolev. “Obviously not happy with the mistakes in the short, usually not ones that happen in practice. But overall, I’m happy with the result.”

The next big test of the season for Gogolev is the Skate Canada International, where he’ll compete alongside Ontario’s Roman Sadovsky and national teammate Aleksa Rakic. Last year, he had a strong showing at the competition before having to pull out of the rest of the season due to injury. Heading towards the SCI once again, he’s putting extra emphasis on staying healthy.

“I’m doing a lot of off-ice to prevent the injuries from happening,” he said. “Strengthening the core, the back, and I guess all the muscle groups. A lot of rehab work, physio.”

Focused on being proactive this season to prevent injury, Gogolev is ready to leave it all out on the ice. The SCI kicks off October 31st from Saskatoon, Saskatchewan and runs through the first weekend of November.