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Denis Krouglov performs his free skating program at the 2026 ISU World Junior Figure Skating Championships in Tallinn, Estonia.<\/p>\n
Krouglov looks to follow Belgium\u2019s skating legacy<\/p>\n
Denis Krouglov<\/a> is aiming to become Belgium\u2019s next top skater as the country continues its rise in figure skating. Belgium might be a small country in Western Europe, but it has emerged as a growing force in the sport.<\/p>\n Kevin van der Perren<\/a> was the first Belgian man in 50 years to win a European Championships medal when he claimed bronze in 2007. After him, Loena Hendrickx<\/a> made history as the first Belgian singles skater to win a World medal (2022<\/a>) and a European title (2024<\/a>).<\/p>\n Nina Pinzarrone<\/a> followed in Hendrickx\u2019s footsteps soon after, collecting two European medals (2024<\/a> and 2025<\/a>) and a World bronze (2026<\/a>). Now, Krouglov is aiming to pick up the torch.<\/p>\n Steady progress on the junior stage<\/p>\n Krouglov is already gaining momentum. The 16-year-old reached the ISU Junior Grand Prix Final after securing two silver medals on the circuit. He finished fourth<\/a> in Nagoya and later placed 10th at the 2026 World Junior Championships<\/a> in Tallinn, Estonia\u2014an improvement of 12 places from the previous year.<\/p>\n According to coach Leslie Stewart, Krouglov has made solid progress since last season.<\/p>\n \u201cIn previous years, a lot of his development was interrupted by injuries related to his growth, which made consistency difficult,\u201d she explained. \u201cNow that this phase has settled, he has been able to train with much better continuity, and that is making a difference.\u201d<\/p>\n \u201cThe biggest improvement has been the ability to put together uninterrupted blocks of work, which is allowing him to build more stability and confidence in both training and competition,\u201d she added. \u201cAs a result, we are seeing a much more consistent athlete than we did a season ago.\u201d<\/p>\n (L-R) Seo Minkyu (KOR), Rio Nakata (JPN), Denis Krouglov (BEL) after the Men\u2019s Short Program on December 4, 2025, at the 2025-26 ISU Junior Grand Prix of Figure Skating Final in Aichi, Nagoya, Japan.<\/p>\n A passion sparked by the Olympics<\/p>\n Born in Belgium to parents who emigrated from Russia, Krouglov discovered figure skating while watching the 2014 Olympic Winter Games as a four-year-old.<\/p>\n \u201cI really liked it, so I asked my mom if I could try,\u201d he said. \u201cThat\u2019s how it all started.\u201d<\/p>\n However, his first experience on the ice was not entirely convincing.<\/p>\n \u201cI remember being afraid to let go of my mom when I first tried it, and I was skating, holding her hand the whole time,\u201d Krouglov recalled. \u201cBut the second time I tried, I decided to let go and didn\u2019t see my mom for the rest of the session.\u201d<\/p>\n Inspired by skating greats<\/p>\n As his passion for the sport grew, Krouglov found inspiration in some of figure skating\u2019s biggest names.<\/p>\n \u201cI like the fact that you can jump and skate at high speed, and do so to music,\u201d the JGP Baku silver medalist said. He especially looks up to Yuzuru Hanyu<\/a>.<\/p>\n \u201cGrowing up, I watched his performances all the time. Before competitions, during training, and so on,\u201d he noted.<\/p>\n He also admires Olympic champions Yuna Kim<\/a>, Ilia Kulik<\/a>, and Alexei Yagudin<\/a> for their technical abilities. Outside of skating, the young athlete is a fan of soccer star Cristiano Ronaldo<\/a>.<\/p>\n Balancing training, school, and music<\/p>\n Krouglov trains six days a week in Mechelen, located north of the capital, Brussels, and halfway to Antwerp.<\/p>\n \u201cI go to school every day, with training normally after school, but sometimes also before,\u201d he shared. \u201cThanks to the help of my teachers and school, I am able to balance it [skating and school] more easily.\u201d<\/p>\n One of his hobbies is playing the cello, which he has pursued since the age of nine.<\/p>\n \u201cIt helps me to connect with the music more, which makes the experience a whole lot different,\u201d he explained.<\/p>\n That connection was evident in his free skate program to the soundtrack of Seven Years in Tibet last season, which features cello music.<\/p>\n Looking ahead and continued development<\/p>\n Following his breakthrough season, Krouglov is looking ahead to what comes next.<\/p>\n \u201cThe think what I take the most out of last season is that I just want to keep enjoying skating for the public and showing the best I can,\u201d he said.<\/p>\n His season ended at the World Junior Championships, and the three-time Belgian junior champion has since used the past two months to catch up on school while staying in shape. He will continue training at home until mid-May before attending several training camps over the summer to prepare for the new season, which will include two new programs.<\/p>\n \u201cI want to present two new styles to show other sides of me,\u201d the skater shared. He will continue working with the same choreographers as last season, with Romain Gazave creating the short program and Tom Dickson responsible for the free skating.<\/p>\n \u201cFor the Short Program, I can tell you I will combine two things I love most,\u201d Krouglov revealed, while keeping his music choices under wraps.<\/p>\n Gazave, who has worked with the skater for the past three years, sees constant improvement in his artistic and technical skills.<\/p>\n \u201cDuring the season 2025-2026, he finally started to be able to show in competition what he can do,\u201d said Gazave. \u201cI\u2019m already very proud of him. I am sure that this is just the beginning and I have no doubt that Denis will be able to become a top world level senior competitor in the years to come. He is a hard worker and passionate about figure skating. Also, he is very respectful to his training team, teammates and competitors. In this sense, he is a real ambassador of sport values.\u201d<\/p>\n Technical goals and future ambitions<\/p>\n The Junior Grand Prix Finalist has also been working on quadruple jumps, including the Salchow, toe loop, and loop, with the Salchow showing the most promise so far. However, he has recently had limited time to train quads due to school commitments, choreography, and recovery from minor injuries. Still, he hopes to have at least one quad ready for next season.<\/p>\n Krouglov will turn 17 in October and is not yet senior-age eligible unless the upcoming ISU Congress in June changes the age requirements, so his focus remains on the ISU Junior Grand Prix.<\/p>\n \u201cMy main goal for next season is to do better than this season,\u201d he pointed out.<\/p>\n The teenager hopes to continue Belgium\u2019s recent success in the sport.<\/p>\n \u201cFigure skating is not a well-known sport here, but because of the success of Kevin, Loena and Nina, we see that people are starting to get into it. There are more recreational skaters in clubs and overall more attention in the media as well,\u201d he concluded.<\/p>\n Related info:<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"740 Denis Krouglov performs his free skating program at the 2026 ISU World Junior Figure Skating Championships in…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":13939,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[4],"tags":[7,9496,984],"class_list":{"0":"post-13938","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-belgium","8":"tag-belgium","9":"tag-denis-krouglov","10":"tag-featured"},"share_on_mastodon":{"url":"https:\/\/pubeurope.com\/@be\/116515064024136877","error":""},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/be\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/13938","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/be\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/be\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/be\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/be\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=13938"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/be\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/13938\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/be\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/13939"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/be\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=13938"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/be\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=13938"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/be\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=13938"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}