Sara Hurtado Martín (born 3 November 1992) is a Spanish retired ice dancer. Initially rising to prominence on the international scene partnered with Adrián Díaz, the duo won six senior international medals and five Spanish national titles, and were the first dance team to represent Spain in ISU competition.[1] They qualified for the Olympic Games, finishing thirteenth at the 2014 Winter Olympics in Sochi, and achieving their best ISU Championship result when they placed fifth at the 2015 European Championships.
Following the end of her partnership with Díaz, she formed a new partnership with Russian ice dancer Kirill Khaliavin, with whom she was the 2018 Rostelecom Cup silver medalist and 2017 and 2019 Spanish national champion. The two placed twelfth at the 2018 Winter Olympics and were the first Spanish ice dancers to stand on a Grand Prix podium.
Hurtado began skating in 2001.[5] Her mother signed her up for lessons when an ice rink opened nearby.[6] She competed in singles but became interested in switching to ice dancing in 2006, when Adrià Díaz asked her to attend a summer camp organized by the Spanish federation (FEDH) with French coach Romain Haguenauer.[7] Hurtado said, "We begged the Federation for two years, please, please, we want to do ice dance."[8] In early 2008, FEDH hired British coach John Dunn to teach ice dancing in Madrid.[8][3][9]
2008–2009 season: Debut of Hurtado/Díaz
Hurtado/Díaz began competing together internationally in the 2008–09 season. Their first major international event was the 2009 World Junior Championships in Sofia, Bulgaria, where they finished 32nd.
They placed ninth at the World Junior Championships in Gangneung, South Korea. They then competed in Moscow, Russia, at their first senior World Championships; although the two qualified for the short dance out of the preliminary round, they were unable to reach the free dance portion of the event.
Ranked twelfth in the short dance and seventeenth in the free dance, Hurtado/Díaz finished sixteenth at the 2012 European Championships in Sheffield, England. They qualified to the free dance at the 2012 World Championships in Nice, France, and finished nineteenth overall.
At the 2013 Nebelhorn Trophy, Hurtado/Díaz became the first ice dancers to qualify an Olympic entry for Spain.[14] They had no Grand Prix assignments. In January 2014, they finished 10th at the 2014 European Championships in Budapest, Hungary, allowing Spain to send two ice dancing teams to the next Europeans.[15]
One month later, Hurtado/Díaz competed at the Winter Olympics in Sochi, Russia;[2] they set personal best scores in both segments and finished in thirteenth place. They ended their season with a sixteenth-place result at the 2014 World Championships in Saitama.
Hurtado/Díaz were invited to two Grand Prix events – the 2015 Trophée Éric Bompard and the 2015 Rostelecom Cup. However, on 16 October 2015, Hurtado announced on her personal Facebook page that she had decided to end the partnership.[16][17] In a later interview, Hurtado stated that their partnership had experienced problems for some time and that therapy had not helped resolve these issues.[18]
2016–2017 season: Debut of Hurtado/Khaliavin
Hurtado and Russia's Kirill Khaliavin began considering skating together in late December 2015 and had a tryout in March 2016 in Moscow.[19][7] He was released to skate for Spain in September 2016.[20] They decided to be coached by Alexander Zhulin in Moscow.[21] Making their international debut, they won gold at the Santa Claus Cup, held in December 2016 in Hungary. Later in the month, they won the Spanish national title ahead of Olivia Smart / Adrià Díaz.
Hurtado/Khaliavin finished thirteenth at the 2017 European Championships in Ostrava, Czech Republic. It was their final competition of the season. The Federación Española Deportes de Hielo (FEDH) selected Smart/Díaz to compete at the 2017 World Championships, the main Olympic-qualifying competition.[22] Their result allowed Spain to send one ice dancing team to the Olympics.
Hurtado/Khaliavin began their season in October with a sixth-place result at the 2017 CS Finlandia Trophy. The following month, they won gold at the Open d'Andorra. In December, they finished fourth at the 2017 CS Golden Spin of Zagreb, just 0.30 points behind bronze medalists Kaitlin Hawayek / Jean-Luc Baker of the United States. They outscored Smart/Díaz by 4.18 points at Golden Spin and finished second at the Spanish Championships with a 3.23 deficit, resulting in a final advantage of 0.95 points. On 17 December 2017, FEDH announced that Hurtado/Khaliavin would compete at the European Championships and Olympics while Smart/Díaz would be assigned to the 2018 World Championships.[24][25]
In January, Hurtado/Khaliavin placed seventh in the short dance, tenth in the free dance, and eighth overall at the 2018 European Championships in Moscow. In February, they competed at the 2018 Winter Olympics in Pyeongchang, South Korea.[26] Ranked twelfth in the short and eleventh in the free, the two finished twelfth overall.
The Spanish Federation had decided to send Olivia Smart and Adria Diaz to the World Championships and so Hurtado and Khaliavin got an early start to the upcoming season. However, before that, they went to Spain and met King Felipe VI and Queen Letizia, who invited all the Winter Olympians from PyeongChang.[27]
2018–2019 season: First Grand Prix medal
Hurtado/Khaliavin began their season with bronze at the 2018 CS Lombardia Trophy in September. The following month, making their Grand Prix debut, they placed fourth at the 2018 Grand Prix of Helsinki and then won silver at the 2018 Rostelecom Cup, becoming the first Spanish ice dancers to stand on a Grand Prix podium. Hurtado called the occasion "a goal and I dreamed of it when I saw Javier getting on the podium. It proves to skaters in Spain that you can be here when you work hard."[28]
After winning their second Spanish national title, Hurtado/Khaliavin competed at the 2019 European Championships, placing seventh, almost four points ahead of Smart/Díaz.[29] They were consequently assigned to Spain's lone dance spot for the 2019 World Championships, where they placed twelfth.
2019–2020 season
Beginning the season on the Challenger series at the 2019 CS Ondrej Nepela Memorial, Hurtado/Khaliavin took the silver medal.[30] They next won gold at the 2019 CS Ice Star. At their first Grand Prix assignment, the 2019 Skate Canada International, they placed fifth.[31] Weeks later at the 2019 Rostelecom Cup, they placed third in the rhythm dance. Hurtado said there was still "some little things in the technical aspect of the program" to fix, but that they felt the program was improving.[32] Third in the free dance as well, they won their second Grand Prix medal.[33]
Hurtado suffered a shoulder injury in the summer of 2020 that required her to return to Spain for surgery, with a projected recovery time of six months.[35] On December 1, Khaliavin indicated that they had reunited and resumed training.[36]
While Smart/Díaz were listed on the preliminary entry list for the 2021 World Championships, the Spanish Ice Sports Federation announced on March 2 that the final determination as to which team would represent Spain would be made following a virtual skate-off between them and Hurtado/Khaliavin.[37] On March 7, the Spanish federation announced that the berth had been awarded to Hurtado/Khaliavin.[38] They placed eleventh in Stockholm.[39] This qualified one place for a Spanish dance team at the 2022 Winter Olympics.[40]
2021–2022 season: Final season and retirement
Hurtado/Khaliavin began the season at the 2021 CS Lombardia Trophy, winning the bronze medal.[41] They next competed at the 2021 CS Finlandia Trophy, the first of three matchups with Smart/Díaz to determine who would be named to the Spanish Olympic team. They were third in the rhythm dance, ahead of Smart/Díaz, but due to free dance errors finished in fifth place, 0.25 points behind their rivals in fourth.[42]
At their first Grand Prix assignment, the 2021 NHK Trophy, Hurtado/Khaliavin placed fourth in the rhythm dance, 0.03 points behind third-place Britons Fear/Gibson. In the free dance, Khaliavin struggled to stabilize their curve lift, and they lost a level on their closing rotational lift, as a result of which they were fifth in that segment, but remained narrowly in fourth overall, 0.71 points ahead of the Canadian team Lajoie/Lagha.[43] At the 2021 Rostelecom Cup, Hurtado/Khaliavin were fourth in both programs, again finishing fourth overall.[44]
Hurtado/Khaliavin faced off against Smart/Díaz at the 2022 Spanish Championships, and finished second in both segments of the competition with a score of 191.90, 8.12 points behind their gold medalist rivals, widening their cumulative deficit to 8.37 points.[45] Both teams then went to the 2022 European Championships, the third and final competition for the Spanish Olympic berth. Hurtado/Khaliavin were sixth in both segments for sixth overall. Khaliavin called their performance "the best we have skated it this season and it is maybe the best we have skated together in our career." Smart/Díaz finished in fourth place, 4.96 points ahead.[46] With a cumulative margin of 13.33 points, Smart/Díaz were subsequently named to Spain's Olympic team.[47]
The post-Olympic period brought about a major change in circumstances for Hurtado and Khaliavin, after Russia invaded neighbouring Ukraine and Spain and other NATO countries responded with major economic sanctions. As a result, Hurtado and the Khaliavin family relocated to Madrid indefinitely. Hurtado said that the invasion was a "shock," and that "it makes me very sad to think about that, about all the people I don't know when I'm going to see again." She also insisted "that the Russian people are not Putin."[48]
On May 30, Hurtado and Khaliavin announced their retirement from competitive skating.[49] Hurtado said that they had insufficient resources to continue competing, and that she hoped they would work together to develop a skating school in Spain in the future.[50]
Coaching career
In June 2023, Hurtado and Khaliavin opened the SK International Ice Dance School in Madrid, Spain, where Khaliavin's wife coaches as well.[51] Their students have included:
