Early career Nikitin was a recreational single skater in his early years. Around 2004, Halyna Churilova encouraged him and
Oleksandra Nazarova, also a single skater from Kharkiv, to form an ice dancing partnership. Nazarova/Nikitin debuted on the
ISU Junior Grand Prix series in
2010. They placed eleventh in
Graz, Austria and seventh in
Sheffield, England. Churilova coached the team in their hometown. In the 2011–2012 season, they made no appearances on the JGP series but were sent to the
Youth Olympics in January 2012 in
Innsbruck, Austria. They won the silver medal behind Russia's
Yanovskaya/
Mozgov.
2012–2013 season Nazarova/Nikitin placed fifth at both of their
2012 JGP events and were assigned to their first
World Junior Championships. At the latter competition, held in late February and early March 2013 in
Milan, Italy, the duo placed twelfth in the short dance, ninth in the free dance, and eleventh overall. After the event, Churilova advised them to join Russian coach
Alexander Zhulin. They relocated to
Moscow to train with Zhulin and Oleg Volkov.
2013–2014 season Nazarova/Nikitin won silver at both of their
2013 JGP assignments and qualified for the
JGP Final. They placed fifth at the Final, held in December 2013 in
Fukuoka,
Japan. In March 2014, they finished fifth at the
World Junior Championships in
Sofia, Bulgaria, having ranked seventh in the short dance and fourth in the free dance.
2014–2015 season: Senior debut Nazarova/Nikitin continued training in Moscow in the 2014–2015 season. At the
Junior Grand Prix event in
Courchevel, France, they ranked fifth in the short dance and third in the free dance. The duo finished fourth overall, 0.54 shy of third place. They won the bronze medal at their next JGP event, in
Tallinn, Estonia, after placing sixth in the short and third in the free dance. Making their senior international debut, Nazarova/Nikitin won the silver medal at the
Warsaw Cup, a
Challenger Series event in November 2014. After winning the Ukrainian senior national title, they were named in Ukraine's team to the
European Championships, held in late January 2015 in
Stockholm, Sweden. Ranked twelfth in the short dance and eleventh in the free dance, the two finished eleventh overall. In early March, the two competed at the
2015 World Junior Championships in
Tallinn, Estonia. They were awarded the bronze medal after placing fifth in the short dance, second in the free dance, and third overall behind
Yanovskaya/
Mozgov of Russia and
McNamara/
Carpenter of the United States. It was Ukraine's first podium finish at the event since
2000. At the end of the same month, Nazarova/Nikitin competed on the senior level at the
2015 World Championships in
Shanghai, China; they ranked seventeenth in both segments and overall.
2015–2016 season Making their
Grand Prix debut, Nazarova/Nikitin finished seventh at the
2015 Skate America. They withdrew from the Ukrainian Championships due to Nazarova's knee injury. The duo returned to competition in late March 2016 at the
World Championships in
Boston. Ranked 20th in the short dance, they narrowly qualified for the free dance, where they placed 18th, resulting in a final placement of nineteenth. Deciding to change coaches, Nazarova/Nikitin joined
Igor Shpilband and
Fabian Bourzat in
Novi, Michigan in late June 2016.
2016–2017 season Nazarova/Nikitin opened their season with a bronze medal at the
International Cup of Nice. They finished seventh at their Grand Prix assignment, the
2016 Trophée de France, and ninth at the
2017 European Championships in
Ostrava, Czech Republic. In February, they received the gold medal at the
2017 Winter Universiade in
Almaty, Kazakhstan. In March, they placed fifteenth at the
2017 World Championships in
Helsinki, Finland. Due to their result, Ukraine
qualified a spot in the ice dancing event at the
2018 Winter Olympics in
Pyeongchang, South Korea.
2017–2018 season: Pyeongchang Olympics Nazarova/Nikitin won the bronze medal at the
2017 CS Lombardia Trophy and the
2017 CS Warsaw Cup and placed fourth at the
2017 CS Ice Star. They placed sixth at their lone Grand Prix assignment for the year,
2017 NHK Trophy. They placed eleventh at the
European Championships before competing at their first
Winter Olympics in
Pyeongchang,
South Korea, where they placed a surprising twenty-first. They concluded with the
2018 World Championships, placing fifteenth. After this season ended, they left Igor Shpilband in Novi, Michigan, and began training only under Fabian Bourzat in France.
2018–2019 season The new season began at the
2018 CS Nebelhorn Trophy, where they struggled, placing ninth. Assigned to two Grand Prix events, they placed eighth at
Skate America and ninth at
NHK Trophy. They did not finish at the Ukrainian Championships. Due to injury, They withdrew from European Championships, with
Popova/
Byelikov winning the former and attending the latter as the Ukrainian competitor. At the
2019 World Championships, Nazarova/Nikitin placed twentieth.
2019–2020 season Nazarova/Nikitin began the season at the
2019 CS Lombardia Trophy, where they placed fourth in both programs to win the bronze medal overall. They went on to win the bronze medal at the
2019 CS Ice Star, where they set a personal best in the
Rhythm Dance and overall score. Between
2019 CS Ice Star and the
2019 Bosphorus Cup, Nazarova/Nikitin announced that they had ended their partnership with Fabian Bourzat. They returned to Kharkiv to train under Halyna Churilova and occasionally under
Alexander Zhulin. They went on to win two other international events and a silver medal at the
2019 Bosphorus Cup. Later that year, they won the
Ukraine Championships. National champions again, Nazarova/Nikitin finished the season at the
2020 European Championships, where they placed tenth. They had been assigned to compete at the
World Championships in
Montreal, but these were cancelled as a result of the
coronavirus pandemic.
2020–2021 season Nazarova/Nikitin debuted at the
2020 CS Budapest Trophy, winning the gold medal. They competed on the
Grand Prix at the
2020 Rostelecom Cup, placing sixth. They placed twentieth at the
2021 World Championships in
Stockholm. Their World result qualified for a berth for a Ukrainian dance team at the
2022 Winter Olympics.
2021–2022 season: Beijing Olympics Beginning the season on the
Challenger series, Nazarova/Nikitin won the silver medal at the
2021 CS Denis Ten Memorial Challenge. On the
Grand Prix, they were eighth at the
2021 NHK Trophy. After winning the Viktor Petrenko Cup, Nazarova/Nikitin won their sixth Ukrainian national title, and were named to their second
Ukrainian Olympic team. Competing first at the
2022 European Championships, they finished tenth. Nazorova/Nikitin began the
2022 Winter Olympics as the Ukrainian entries to the rhythm dance segment of the
Olympic team event. They finished ninth of ten teams. In the
dance event, they finished twentieth in the rhythm dance and were the last team to qualify for the free dance. Eighteenth in the free dance, they remained twentieth overall. Following the Olympics, Nazarova and Nikitin returned to their homes in
Kharkiv, which shortly afterward became
a central point of conflict when
Vladimir Putin launched an
invasion of Ukraine. The invasion severed their relations with Russian coach
Alexander Zhulin, with whom they had trained with from 2013 to 2016 and again from 2019 onward. They both expressed anger at Zhulin and former training partners
Victoria Sinitsina and
Nikita Katsalapov, who had appeared at a rally in support of the Russian invasion, saying, "we were such big friends with Vika and Nikita. It was so difficult to see how they are supporting their President who is killing our Ukrainian people." After weeks in the city while under bombardment, they evacuated to the Polish city of
Toruń to resume training. They received considerable support from skaters in other European and North American countries, notably entreaties from French Olympic champion
Gabriella Papadakis that they attend the
2022 World Championships in
Montpellier despite their training disruptions. Nazarova and Nikitin sought assistance from Canadian music editor Hugo Chouinard in revamping their rhythm dance, as they did not want to skate to happy music under the circumstances. The new program made use of Ukrainian singer
Jamala's song "
1944" about the
persecution of Crimean Tatars by the order of
Joseph Stalin, and a remix of the folk song "
Oi u luzi chervona kalyna" which had become an anthem of resistance to the invasion. Nazarova and Nikitin took to the ice wearing the Ukrainian national colours and received a huge ovation from the crowd for the rhythm dance segment, where they placed sixteenth. They opted to withdraw from the free dance, saying that they had not had time to change that program and "we consider it inappropriate to dance it while people are dying and hiding in basements in our country." == Programs ==