Luka Berulava

Luka Berulava (; born 27 November 2002) is a Georgian pair skater. With current partner Anastasia Metelkina, he is an Olympic silver medalist, World silver medalist (2026), European champion (2026), two-time European Championship medalist (2024, 2025), 2024–25 Grand Prix Final bronze medalist, a three-time Grand Prix medalist, and a four-time Challenger Series medalist. On the junior level, the pair are two-time World Junior champions (2024, 2025), the 2023–24 Junior Grand Prix Final champion, and a two-time ISU Junior Grand Prix gold medalists. He and Metelkina are the first Georgian athletes to ever win a medal at a Winter Olympic Games.

Berulava first emerged on the international scene to represent Georgia at the 2020 Winter Youth Olympics, where he and his partner Alina Butaeva won two medals − bronze in pairs and gold in the team event. He then formed a new partnership with Karina Safina. Safina/Berulava were the first Georgian pair medalists on the ISU Junior Grand Prix circuit, and the first Georgians to win a World Junior title in any discipline when they won gold in 2022.

He is the godfather of fellow Georgian skater, Nika Egadze.

Career

Early career Berulava began learning to skate in 2005.

2019–20 season: Debut of Butaeva/Berulava, Youth Olympics medals The two made their debut for Georgia in September 2019, placing eighth at an ISU Junior Grand Prix (JGP) event in Poland The team will compete next at the 2026 Winter Olympics. "Right now, the situation is very interesting," said Berulava of the upcoming Olympics. "It’s fascinating because there’s not a clear leader. There are six top teams and all together, and everyone is aiming for the gold medal. Each of us, each athlete, we all have the same goal."

On 6 February, Metelkina/Berulava placed second in the short program in the 2026 Winter Olympics Figure Skating Team Event. "It was a calm skate, a good warm up," said Metelkina. "We are confident and our coaches and our federation has confidence in us, too. We can do it all and practices were excellent. We had a very good week of training before the Olympic Games, therefore we went out calmly and did what we know we can do." Two days later, they placed second in the free skate and Team Georgia finished in fourth place overall. The following day, the pair skated a clean free program aside from Metelkina stepping out of the throw triple loop, placing second in that segment and winning the silver medal overall. "It is a huge honor, and I am incredibly happy that our names are now written as the first Georgians to win a medal at the Olympic Winter Games. It’s a huge honor. It was a long path for us, and we are unbelievably happy about it," said Berulava following the result. "I hope that after us, a big team will develop in Georgia — that we will have second, third, fourth pairs, and that there will be competition inside the country. After the end of my career, I want to take care of this, because I love figure skating and I want to do everything to develop pair skating in Georgia."

Berulava and alpine skier, Nino Tsiklauri, were subsequently selected as Georgia's flag bearers for the Olympic closing ceremony.

On March 26, 2026, Metelkina/Berulava made history by becoming the first Georgian pair team to earn a world medal (silver) at the 2026 World Figure Skating Championships. The pair placed second in the short program and fourth in the free skate. “I’m very happy because this is our first medal at the World Championships and also that we ended the season on a high note,” said Metelkina. “There’s a medal and there are a lot of emotions. This season, I really want to thank everybody who was part of our preparation—our coaches, our federation. We tried our best and we will continue to try our best.”

Programs

Pair skating with Anastasiia Metelkina Season Short program Free skate Exhibition 2023–24 "Summertime" "The Millionaire Waltz" "Tango Sassetta"

Pair skating with Karina Safina Season Short program Free skating Exhibition 2022–2023