Rafael Arutyunyan

Rafael Arutyunyan

Coaching career He coached young skaters in Yerevan from 1976.

In December 2025, it was announced that Arutyunyan will be inducted into U.S. Figure Skating Hall of Fame's Class 2026, along with his former long-time student, and Olympic gold medalist, Nathan Chen. The induction ceremony was held on January 9, 2026, in St. Louis, Missouri, coinciding with the 2026 U.S. Figure Skating Championships.

His current students include: Sofia Bezkorovainaya (2025 – present) David Bondar (2025 – present) Eliška Březinová (2025 – present) Chen Yudong (2023 – present), three-time Chinese National champion (2023–2025) Aleksandr Fegan (2025 – present) Petr Gumennik (2021 – present), 2023 Russian National silver medalist and 2024 Russian National bronze medalist Li Yu-Hsiang (2025 – present), Ilia Malinin (2021 – present), 2026 Olympic U.S Team Event Gold Medalist, three-time World Champion (2024–26), 2023 World bronze medalist, four-time U.S. National champion (2023–26), three-time Grand Prix Final champion (2023–25), 2022 Grand Prix Final bronze medalist, and 2022 Junior World champion Matthew Nielsen (2019 – present) Camden Pulkinen (May 2022 – present), 2-time U.S. National bronze medalist (2024–25) Georgii Reshtenko (2025 – present) Aleksandr Selevko (2024 – present) Mihhail Selevko (2024 – present) Hetty Shi (2023 – present) Eric Sjoberg (2013 – present) Artur Smagulov (2023 – present) Andrew Torgashev (2020 – present), 2023 U.S. National bronze medalist and 2025 U.S. National silver medalist Sofia Samodelkina (2024 – present), 2025 Kazakh National champion, 2025 World University Games bronze medalist

His former students include:

Alexander Abt (early 1990s – 2002) 2006 Olympic bronze medalist, 2008 World champion, and four-time Canadian National champion (2004–07) Nathan Chen (2011 – 2022), 2022 Men’s Singles Olympic Champion, 2022 Olympic U.S. Team gold medalist, 2018 Olympic U.S. Team bronze medalist, 3-time World champion (2018–19, 2021), 2017–2022 U.S. National champion, 3-time Grand Prix Final champion (2017–19), and 2017 Four Continents champion Mandy Chiang (2018 – 2020) Sasha Cohen (2009), Ivan Dinev (2002 – 2003), Stephen Gogolev (June 2019 – 2024), 2019 Junior Grand Prix Final champion Marin Honda (March 2018 – 2019), 2022 World champions and 2022 Grand Prix Final silver medalists Alexa Knierim / Chris Knierim (2019 – 2020), Kiira Korpi (August 2013 – 2014), Alexandra Ievleva (1996 – 2000) (2008 – 2010), Vivian Le (June 2016 – December 2017), Lim Eun-soo (April 2018 – September 2019), Amy Lin (2017 – 2018), Hannah Miller (June 2015 – August 2016), Andrea Montesinos Cantú (2017 – 2023), Romain Ponsart (August 2016 – March 2022), Alexander Shubin (unknown – 2001), Sophie Joline von Felten (2022 – 2023), Sergei Voronov (unknown – 2000),