Maxim Shabalin

Maxim Shabalin was born on January 25, 1982 in Samara, Russia. He started skating when he was only four years old but, as he admits himself, he kept training only to please his parents who insisted that he kept on skating. As he likes to relate himself, he fought hard for a free childhood, skipping training to run to play outdoors, or to go back home to sleep. Only when he was eleven, and after almost giving up the sport, his first coach, Oleg Ivanovic Sudakov, suggested to the boy that he should try ice dancing. Finally Maxim found the right motivation to go on with skating. During the following years he changed several partners, but things never seemed to work out. When he was sixteen he moved to Sofia where he teamed up with Margarita Toteva representing Bulgaria. They skated together for a year and a half but the team split when Margarita was forced to retire due to injury. Maxim went back to Russia. There he teamed up with Elena Khaljavina. The team was quite successful: in 2001 they placed third at Junior Worlds. The following season they managed to win two Grand Prix events, placing second at the Grand Prix final. They went on to become Junior National Russian champions, and silver medalists at the Junior Worlds, after Tanith Belbin and Benjamin Agosto. Unfortunately their relationship deteriorated, and once again Maxim was on the lookout for another partner. The search led to Oksana Domnina Initially they communicated only by letter, then Maxim came to Odintsovo from Togliatti, where he was skating during the previous season, "to give it a try". The decision to form the couple was made in May 2002, when the guys started skating together under the guidance of coach Alexei Gorshkov and choreographer Sergei Petukhov. This was the beginning of a very successful career that saw them crowned as winners of the 2007 Grand Prix Final and European Champions in 2008. In the summer of 2008 the skaters decided to change their coaching team, a decision that changed their life completely. Shortly after that, they moved to the US to train with Natalia Linichuk and Gennadij Karponosov. The change of coach proved to be a good decision as in 2009 they finally became World Champions in Los Angeles.