He stopped skating for three years as a child and started to train professionally only as a teenager. Now he is new ISU European Champion and made history: Meet Nika Egadze of Georgia. 

When Egadze finished his Free Skating performance in Sheffield at the ISU European Championships, he happily did a penguin slide across the ice. He didn’t know yet that he had won but he knew that he had put out two clean performances. As it turned out, they paved his way to gold.

Nika Egadze (GEO) happily slides accross the ice after his winning performance at the ISU European Championships Photo ©ISU

From fourth to first

The past three years, Egadze, 23, came close to the podium, but fell short taking a medal – he was fourth in 2025 as well as in 2024 and fifth in 2023. This time the Georgian skater was determined not to let the medal slip away. And he did it, he won his first ISU Championships medal and the first ISU Championship title for Georgia in the Men’s event. “I still don’t realize it,” he said, shaking his head.

“It means a lot for me, for my coaches, for our country, because it will help to popularize figure skating for the new generation,” Egadze noted. “I think more people will come and try figure skating right now in Georgia. We have now two new ice rinks and kids will come and try to skate and try to be champions, so I'm happy for that.”

The TV ratings for figure skating in Georgia were higher than ever at this event, starting with the also historic victory in the Pairs for  Anastasiia Metelkina & Luka Berulava and now for Egadze.

Nika Egadze made history as the first European Figure Skating Men's Champion from Georgia  Photo ©ISU

A late start

It all began in Tbilisi, Georgia, when six-year-old Nika started skating on a small 20 meters by 20 meters ice rink. It was just a fun past time, a hobby. But it lasted only for three years. “Then the ice rink closed for repairs and re-opened only three years later,” Egadze recalled. So he was off the ice for three years and only returned to skating when he was 12. 

Eventually he started to train in a bigger ice rink in Batumi and then the idea came up to ask Russian coach and choreographer Daniil Gleikhengauz to make a program. In the end, Egadze travelled to Moscow and started to train in the group of Eteri Tutberidze, but not at a permanent basis at first. 

However, when the Georgian got injured and broke is foot three times, his family decided to stop the adventure. “I wrote to Eteri Georgievna (Tutberidze) that it is enough, I am stopping. But she sent me a long answer. She brought me back into the sport and I am really grateful to her for this,” Egadze said. “I would not be sitting here today but I would be in Georgia doing who knows what.”

A new approach

Since last year, Egadze’s approach to the competitions has changed. A year ago, he was second in the Short Program at the ISU European Championships but made errors in the Free Skating to drop to fourth. Not this time. 

“Last year, I was thinking too much about this medal,” he said. “This year, I thought zero about this medal. I thought I just have to do my job. I have to show what I was working on for these last two months because I really worked hard. I really tried to do my best on all the practices and I'm so happy that I delivered and I did great here.”

Nika Egadze (GEO) feels he has improved his performance skills Photo ©ISU

The whole season has been going well – Egadze won gold and silver two ISU Challenger Series events and then his first ISU Grand Prix medal, a bronze, a the ISU Grand Prix de France. 

“It was a really good start of the season, but I did a big mistake that I had four competitions in a row,” he revealed. “At Skate Canada I had no energy”. He came fifth. “I think Skate Canada was one of the biggest motivations for me for the last two months because if I would have skated a little bit better, I could make the (ISU Grand Prix) Final,” Egadze shared. “I'm really hoping to do the Final next year. Overall I grew up mentally and I'm really doing better and better at competitions.”

Since the past summer, the Georgian Champion has been working with renowned choreographer Benoit Richaud who has had a big impact. “He played a really big role in this win,” Egadze acknowledged. “Usually, when I'm skating last, I'm just in silence, I didn't hear anything and I was just walking around and don't talk. Now we were talking all these 35 or 40 minutes before the free program and it really helped me mentally. I was going to enjoy skating and to enjoy this moment.”

Egadze’s approach to the performance itself has changed as well. 

“I think I started to skate more for the audience and more for the judges,” he explained. “I never looked at the judges before. I feel that I'm skating more open than last year.”

Excited for the Olympic debut

The 23-year-old started to help younger skaters with choreography and discovered that this is something he really enjoys doing. “I'm really interested in choreography because I really like music,” he said and was very proud when junior skater Aisha Allakhverdieva got a level four for her step sequence. 

Nika Egadze (GEO) celebrates with his teammates Anastasiia Metelkina and Luka Berulava at the ISU European Championships Photo ©ISU

Now Egadze is awaiting eagerly his Olympic debut in Milano Cortina. It will start with the Team Event, something that is very important to that small and successful team that is so close to each other. Georgia qualified one entry in every discipline for the Olympic Games and is expected to fight for a medal with newly minted ISU European Pair Skating Champions Anastasiia Metelkina & Luka Berulava , 2023 ISU European Champion Anastasiia Gubanova and Ice Dancers Diana Davis & Gleb Smolkin.

“I have only two and a half weeks before Olympics, so I want to try to improve a little bit the quality of everything to get more scores and to be more confident,” Egadze said. “The team event is very important to us. My goal is to skate clean, to do my job as well as I can and to do my maximum there. The Olympics may happen only once in your life.

I was at the European Youth Olympics (in 2017) and I think it will be something similar but of course the Olympic Games will be totally different, the atmosphere will be so nice and I can't wait to go and compete there.”