Maria Filippov

Maria Filippov is a Bulgarian ice dancer.

Career
Maria began figure skating at the age of 8. At 14, she decided to switch her focus to ice dancing, inspired by her love for music and dance, preferring it to the technicalities of singles skating. She went on to become a member of the Bulgarian National Ice Dance Team from 1988 up until her retirement of competitive skating in 1992. During her membership, she participated in many national and international competitions with her skating partner Hristo Nickolov, including the 1991 European Figure Skating Championships and the 1991 World Figure Skating Championships. However, Maria and Hristo withdrew from the European Championships and failed to reach the final in the World Championships. Possibly Maria's biggest skating career highlight was when she was awarded the honour of "Master of Sport of Bulgaria" bestowed upon her by the Bulgarian Government in recognition of sporting excellence.

Following her retirement in 1992, Maria became an ice dance coach. Her students shared brilliant successes; from 1994-1997 her students were National Champions of Bulgaria in both senior and junior divisions and participated in the 1994 European and World Figure Skating Championships, 1997 Junior World Championships and the 1997 European Youth Olympic Winter Days. She was also the assistant coach and choreographer of Albena Denkova, who was the World Champion of 2007 in ice dancing.

Dancing On Ice Partners
Series 2 (2007) - Singer Duncan James. 3rd place.

Series 3 (2008) - Singer Gareth Gates. Voted out in the semi-finals.

Series 4 (2009) - Singer and actor Ray Quinn. Winners.

Series 5 (2010) - Actor Gary Lucy. 2nd place.

Personal Life
Maria moved to Sydney, Australia in 1998 where she currently resides with her husband Andrei and their 8-year-old son Anton.