Originally published to Fairfax Times - December 30, 2021
Alexandria local Sofia Bezkorovainaya has Olympic ambitions in figure skating.The 11-year-old recently won the 2022 U.S. National Figure Skating Championship, scoring the highest ever recorded score for the competition. Bezkorovainaya beat out more than 250 from all over the country, upsetting those as old as 13.
Bezkorovainaya is coached by Inna Volyanskaya, a former professional figure skater for the Soviet National Team. As a part of the Soviet National Team, she placed as high as third as a pair skater with Valery Spiridonov in the 1979-90 season in the Soviet Championships and twice placing first in the Soviet Union Cup. Volyanskaya coaches at the Ashburn Ice House.
As a student-athlete, Bezkorovainaya has had to learn how to manage her time wisely, waking up at 5 a.m. every day to train. And according to Fox 5, she studies at an online school, “I do online school, Virginia Virtual Academy is like really, really comfortable.”
Bezkorovainaya will look to improve upon her results this year to one day compete in the Olympics, with the upcoming 2022 Winter Olympics taking place in Beijing and 2026 Winter Olympics taking place in Cortina d’Ampezzo and Milan in the near future.
To learn more about Virginia Virtual Academy, visit vava@k12.com
