Dmitry Zharkov and Olga Kulikova
It's not a matter of you voting just once prior to the 31 January deadline. For the two dancers to stand a chance to get the award, you (and all your friends) should cast a vote every day until the end of the month. Nino Langella and Khrystyna Moshenska, DanceSport's candidates for the award in 2014, came in third mostly because our community did not generate enough "daily votes." Until shortly prior to the end of polling in 2015, the Italian couple was actually in the lead. Let's do better this time around: #votedimaandolga!
Dmitry and Olga have been serious contenders for first place in every major Standard competition for the past two years. But they were denied World or European titles during the same period, coming in second to the equally inspired Simone Segatori and Annette Sudol, GER, in three championships and in five consecutive GrandSlam Series events.
Dmitry and Olga seemed to be cast as the eternal runners-up until they staged their first upset over the Germans by winning the World Championship Standard in Vilnius, LTU, on 5 December. It was on that exact same day 13 years earlier that the two had started to dance together.
Perseverance kept them in the race for all this time; inspiration had them cross the finish line first at long last. And not just once! Eight days after the World Championship they won the 2015 GrandSlam Final in Shanghai, CHN, as well.
Vote for them here!
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