Elena Ilyinykh has formalized her relationship with Sergei Polunin.
The ballerina and the famous figure skater have been together since 2018 and even have three children together, but they only decided to get married now. Olympic ice dancing champion Elena Ilyinykh happily announced this on social media. Why did they delay such an important event for so long?
How it all began
Elena Ilyinykh is considered by many to be the most beautiful figure skater in Russia and even in the world. Her greatest sporting success was achieved in a duo with Nikita Katsalapov, and she won, of course, gold medals in the team competition at the Olympic Games in Sochi and bronze in ice dancing.
Unfortunately, after this, Elena's career began to decline. The couple with Nikita broke up, he began performing with Victoria Sinitsina, and Ruslan Zhiganshin became the Ilins' partner. There were no more rapid ups and downs; in addition, Ruslan's injuries hampered him, although there were still some peaks, such as gold at the Russian Championship, for example. However, injuries and other factors led to the end of this union, after which Ilinykh put an end to his career. There was also a period of work with Anton Shibnev, but it turned out to be very short.
In parallel with the successes of the Ilin brothers, Polunin also sought recognition. After the Kiev Choreographic School, he moved to London, passing through the Royal Ballet School itself. The rise was so fast that it could knock anyone off their feet. Sergei tried to stay in royal life and not become a star, and now he has become the director of the Sevastopol Opera and Ballet Theatre.
The magic of dating.
Parallel lines crossed in 2019, when Elena subscribed to Sergei on social networks. It is curious that shortly before this, Polunin deleted all his posts there, but at some point he was flipping through his personal messages and came across a message from a famous figure skater. She, as you understand, turned out to be Olympic champion Ilinykh. Of course, he paid attention to the world sports star, especially since Elena has always been a stunning beauty.
In this message, Ilyinykh thanked Sergei for the documentary “Dancer”, in which she was amazed by the extraordinary personality of the artist. Lena was advised to watch this photo by her mother, who, by the way, later did not approve of the athlete’s attempts to meet the famous dancer. But Ilyinykh insisted and tried to find contact with him. A message on social networks seemed almost the last step. The greater was her surprise that this move worked!
Since Polunin spent a lot of time travelling, they were unable to meet for a long time and the main communication took place via the Internet. By a happy coincidence, they both ended up in Munich at the same time, where the magic of personal acquaintance took place. The young people walked a lot around the city, talked about various topics and realized that this was the beginning of something very serious.
Kids, honey, where is the wedding?
Then everything was like in a movie. A whirlwind romance turned into a romantic relationship, and then there was great love and plans for children. Less than a couple of months passed before they started thinking about offspring! The first baby was born in January 2020 in the United States and received a very unusual name – Mundo. Interestingly, the athlete's fans did not suspect that she was pregnant for a long time – the couple carefully hid everything.
True, it was not possible to completely escape the public's attention. Especially when the second baby was born, who also received the original name – Dar. And in 2024, the Ilins and Polunins had a third child, Era. The figure skater and ballet dancer rejoiced on social networks, in public and wherever possible. But many people were interested in the question: where will the wedding be?
The fact is that Sergei proposed to Elena back in 2022, and then everything calmed down. Some gossip lovers tried to spread the theory that the couple, as in the case of the birth of their first child, did everything quietly and without supervision. However, these rumors were not confirmed. And finally, years later, that very wedding took place.
The lovers tied the knot with their closest people. Elena appeared in a romantic dress with a deep slit and threw a beautiful lace veil over her shoulders. She chose glamorous make-up, while Sergei limited himself to a classic suit. Judging by the photographs, the ceremony turned out to be incredibly emotional. Another wedding saga in Russian figure skating has come to an end.
– So I became the wife of the man I loved cosmically. I love you very much, my Serezhenka. What a blessing to have you! Your Polunina,” Elena said.
