Mark Kondratiuk

Kondratiuk placed sixteenth at the 2017 Russian Junior Championships. Over the following seasons, he appeared at a number of junior internationals, winning five medals, but received no ISU Junior Grand Prix assignments. Kondratiuk was diagnosed with Osgood–Schlatter disease at age 13, as a result of which he missed multiple seasons of competition and briefly considered leaving the sport, before opting to continue. [2]

In November, making his senior international debut, Kondratiuk won gold at the Bosphorus Cup in Turkey. In January, he took silver at the Mentor Toruń Cup in Poland.

Competing on the domestic Russian Cup series, Kondratiuk placed eighth in the first stage in Moscow and seventh in the fourth stage in Kazan.[3] These results qualified him only as an alternate for the 2021 Russian Championships initially, but he was added to the roster following the withdrawal of Artur Danielian, the previous year's silver medalist.[4]

Ranked third in the short program and second in the free skate, he won the bronze medal at the event, which took place in Chelyabinsk in December.[5] Kondratiuk was a virtual unknown prior to the championship, making his bronze medal a considerable surprise, with commentators remarking that he "basically came out of nowhere."[6]

Kondratiuk's success at the national championships led to his being invited to compete in the 2021 Channel One Trophy team competition, where he was selected for the "Time of Firsts" team captained by Evgenia Medvedeva. He ranked third in the short program, and then finished first in the free skate, ahead of national champion Mikhail Kolyada. His clean free skate even moved Medvedeva to tears. He subsequently expressed a hope to qualify for the second Russian men's berth at the 2021 World Championships by competing at the Russian Cup Final.[2] Kondratiuk struggled at the event, placing fifth overall.[7][8]

Kondratiuk was initially scheduled to make his ISU Junior Grand Prix debut at the first of two JGP events held in Courchevel, France in August 2021, but he, along with his Russian teammates, were forced to withdraw from the competition as Russia's Sputnik V COVID-19 vaccine did not meet France's standards for adequate vaccination.[9] After a strong performance at the senior Russian test skates, he was instead assigned to the 2021 CS Nebelhorn Trophy to qualify a third Olympic berth for Russian men following the results of the 2021 World Championships earlier in the year. Kondratiuk was successful in his endeavor, placing fifth in the short program and second in the free skate to win the bronze medal and take the third of seven available Olympic spots.[10]

Kondratiuk competed at a second Challenger event, taking the silver medal at the 2021 CS Denis Ten Memorial Challenge.[11] He was then assigned to make his Grand Prix debut at the 2021 Rostelecom Cup, where he placed eighth.[12]