Luka Berulava

Luka Berulava (Лука Берулава; ლუკა ბერულავა, born 27 November 2002) is a Russian-born pair skater who currently competes for Georgia. With current partner Anastasia Metelkina, he is the 2024 World Junior champion, 2024 European silver medalist, 2023–24 Junior Grand Prix Final champion, and two-time ISU Junior Grand Prix gold medalist.

Berulava first emerged on the international scene with partner Alina Butaeva, with whom he won two medals at the 2020 Winter Youth Olympics − bronze in pairs and gold in the team event. He then formed a new partnership with Karina Safina. Safina/Berulava were the first Georgian pair medalists on the ISU Junior Grand Prix circuit, and the first Georgians to win a World Junior title in any discipline when they won gold in 2022. At the senior level they won a bronze medal at the 2021 CS Nebelhorn Trophy, achieved notable fourth-place finishes at both the 2022 World Championships and the 2022 European Championships, and represented Georgia at the 2022 Winter Olympics.

Personal life
Berulava was born on 27 November 2002 in Moscow. He resides in Perm, where he also trains with partner Anastasiia Metelkina.

Career
Berulava began learning to skate in 2005. In 2019, he teamed up with Russia's Alina Butaeva to compete in pair skating. The pair decided to train in Perm, coached by Pavel Sliusarenko and Alexei Menshikov.

2019–20 season: Youth Olympics medals
The two made their debut for Georgia in September 2019, placing eighth at an ISU Junior Grand Prix (JGP) event in Poland and then sixth at JGP Croatia. Their results earned a spot for Georgia in the pairs' event at the 2020 Winter Youth Olympics. In November, they took bronze in the junior pairs' category at the Volvo Open Cup in Riga, Latvia. In December, they won the junior event at the Golden Spin of Zagreb.

In January 2020, the pair competed at the 2020 Winter Youth Olympics in Lausanne, Switzerland. They finished third in the short program behind two pairs from Russia, then did likewise in the free skating program. Their combined score put them in third place with a bronze medal. This was Georgia's first medal in the Winter Youth Olympic Games, and their tenth medal in the Youth Olympic Games overall. The pair also received a gold medal for their participation in the team event as part of Team Courage, alongside Arlet Levandi from Estonia, Ksenia Sinitsyna from Russia, and ice dancers Yoshida/Nishiyama from Japan. Butaeva/Berulava finished the season at the 2020 World Junior Championships, where they placed seventh.

2021–22 season: Debut of Safina/Berulava
After the end of his partnership with Butaeva, Berulava formed a new partnership with Russian pair skater Karina Safina. With international junior competition resuming following the COVID-19 pandemic causing the 2020–21 junior season to be cancelled, Safina/Berulava made their Junior Grand Prix debut at the 2021 JGP Slovakia. they won the silver medal behind gold medal-winning Russian team Mukhortova/Evgenyev, and ahead of third place Russian team Kostiukovich/Briukhanov. Their placement marked Georgia's first Junior Grand Prix medal in pair skating.

Safina/Berulava next made their senior international debut at the 2021 CS Nebelhorn Trophy to attempt to qualify a berth for Georgia in the pairs event at the 2022 Winter Olympics. The team set a new personal best to win the short program by a narrow margin over German team Hase/Seegert. They fell to third in the free program after losing their forward inside death spiral and one of their lifts, and ultimately finished third overall to successfully qualify for an Olympic spot in their discipline for Georgia. Berulava remarked afterwards, "we would like to have done it in a better, nicer way." Their performance, along with Georgian ice dance team Kazakova/Reviya's podium placement, also qualified a spot for Georgia in the Olympic team event.

Safina/Berulava returned to the Junior Grand Prix circuit in October for their second assignment, the 2021 JGP Austria in Linz. They placed third in both segments to finish third overall behind Russian teams Khabibullina/Knyazhuk and Mukhortova/Evgenyev. Due to the unique qualification process for the 2021–22 season, the team did not advance to the 2021–22 Junior Grand Prix Final, despite two podium finishes.

In December, Safina/Berulava faced domestic rivals Metelkina/Parkman for the first time in international competition at the 2021 CS Golden Spin of Zagreb. Safina/Berulava set a new personal best to win the short program but fell to eighth in the free program standings after errors on their side-by-side jumping passes and losing their forward inside death spiral. The team placed seventh overall, while Metelkina/Parkman advanced onto the podium and took home the silver medal. Metelkina/Parkman initially received the nod for the Georgian pairs berth at the 2022 European Championships; however, Safina/Berulava replaced them after they withdrew from the event on 9 January. At Europeans, Safina/Berulava placed sixth in the short program after falling on their side-by-side triple Salchows. They delivered a stronger performance in the free skate, albeit still struggling with their side-by-side jumps, to climb to fourth in the segment and fourth overall, the best of the non-Russian competitors.

The day after the pairs free skate at the European Championships, Safina/Berulava were officially named to the Georgian team for the 2022 Winter Olympics by the Georgian Figure Skating Federation. Safina/Berulava made their Olympic debut in the team event before the opening ceremony on February 3. They cleanly skated their short program to place sixth in the segment out of nine and earn five points towards Team Georgia's combined score. However, despite scoring 22 team points overall to tie for fifth place with Team China going into the free skate, Team Georgia lost the tie-breaker and did not advance. In the pairs event, Safina/Berulava were ninth in the short program and eighth in the free skate, for ninth overall.

Days after the Olympics concluded, Vladimir Putin ordered an invasion of Ukraine, as a result of which the International Skating Union banned all Russian and Belarusian skaters from competing at the 2022 World Championships. As well, the Chinese Skating Association opted not to send athletes to compete in Montpellier. As those countries' athletes comprised the entirety of the top five pairs at the Olympics, this greatly impacted the field. Safina and Berulava relocated to train in Italy. They placed fourth in the short program at the World Championships with a clean skate. They were fourth in the free skate to finish fourth overall, the only error in the latter segment being Safina doubling out on a triple Salchow attempt.

Due to the pandemic, the World Junior Championships could not be held in their scheduled location of Sofia, and as a result, they were moved to Tallinn and held in mid-April, rather than their traditional early March timeframe. As Russian pair teams were also banned from attending this event, Safina/Berulava entered as heavy favourites for the gold medal. They won the short program with a clean skate and a 67.77 score. They also won the free skate, taking the title by a margin of almost twenty points. Berulava reflected that "it was a long and busy season with many competitions and to end it with a gold medal is really nice."

2022–23 season
Safina and Berulava were assigned to make their senior Grand Prix debut in the fall. Despite dealing with an injury in the lead-up to their first event, the 2022 Grand Prix de France, they placed third in the short program, with Safina saying, "I am more pleased than not pleased with our performance today because nothing really worked in practice for me. We have still a lot of work ahead of us, and I think I've done the maximum of what I can do at the moment." They struggled in the free skate, placing sixth in that segment and dropping to fifth overall. The team later withdrew from their second assignment, the 2022 Grand Prix of Espoo.

After missing most of the season, Safina/Berulava returned to compete at the 2023 World Championships, but struggled at the event and came nineteenth. The following month, Safina announced that Berulava had opted to end their partnership. He subsequently confirmed this, expressing "deep gratitude to Karina."

2023–24 season: Debut of Metelkina/Berulava
On June 5, it was announced by the Georgian Federation that Berulava had teamed up with Anastasia Metelkina. Metelkina/Berulava opted to make their competitive debut on the Junior Grand Prix, winning the gold medal at the 2023 JGP Turkey in Istanbul. Despite two falls in their free skate, their margin of victory over American silver medalists Flores/Wang was almost 27 points. Two weeks later they earned the gold at their second event, the 2023 JGP Hungary in Budapest, despite difficulties on their jump elements. Metelkina/Berulava's results qualified them to the Junior Grand Prix Final in December; they said they planned on getting senior-level experience in the meantime.

Metelkina/Berulava made their senior debut at the Warsaw Cup, winning the gold medal. They then entered the Junior Grand Prix Final as heavy favourites to take the title, and won by a 34-point margin over Canadian silver medalists Kemp/Elizarov. They were the first Georgian pair team to win the Junior Grand Prix Final gold.

Entering the 2024 European Championships in Kaunas as among the favourites, Metelkina/Berulava took first place in the short program, winning a gold small medal. Metelkina erred on both of her jump sequences in the free skate, and they came fifth in that segment, dropping to second place overall. Berulava remarked that "not everything worked out. But it's only our first season together and silver is also a medal."

Having medaled at a senior championship event before returning to juniors, Metelkina/Berulava were heavy favourites at the 2024 World Junior Championships in Taipei, and won the short program by a margin of 9.20 points. They struggled in the free skate, with errors on all four jumping elements, but still finished first in that segment as well, and claimed the gold medal. Both vowed to work harder in training after the difficulties in the free program.

Making their senior World Championship debut as a team at the 2024 edition in Montreal, Metelkina/Berulava were fifth in the short program. They were only 0.08 points behind fourth-place Germans Hase/Volodin, thus narrowly missing participation in the final flight of the free skate. In that segment, they struggled with several errors, including an aborted lift, which saw them come tenth in the free skate and drop to seventh overall. Speaking afterward, a "despondent" Berulava said: "Right now, I don't have words to comment on this performance."

Competitive highlights
CS: Challenger Series; JGP: Junior Grand Prix

Detailed results
Small medals for short and free programs awarded only at ISU Championships.