Tamir Kuperman

Tamir Kuperman (born September 13, 2007) is an Israeli competitive figure skater. Kuperman is the 2026 Israeli national champion and a four-time Israeli national junior champion (2022–2025). Internationally, he is the 2025 Bavarian Open junior champion and the 2025 Denkova-Staviski Cup champion.

Kuperman was born on September 13, 2007, in Tel Aviv, Israel. In his early career, he trained at Ice Peaks Holon, in Holon. In June 2022, he moved to New Jersey and started training at Ice Dream Academy of New Jersey.

Kuperman began figure skating in 2016 at Ice Peaks Holon. He competed in the basic novice category at the 2018 Volvo Open Cup, finishing in fourth place. In the 2019–20 season, he placed fourth in the advanced novice event at the 2019 Volvo Open Cup and seventh at the 2020 Sofia Trophy.

Kuperman made his junior international debut at the 2021 Volvo Open Cup in Riga. He placed 5th place.

In June 2022, prior to the start of the season, Kuperman relocated to New Jersey, United States, to train at Ice Dream Academy of New Jersey under coaches Alexei Bychenko^[1], Galit Chait Moracci, and Evgeni Krasnopolski.

He opened his season at the Philadelphia Summer International, placing fifth in the junior event. He made his ISU Junior Grand Prix debut in October at the JGP Poland II in Gdańsk, where he finished 21st. Later in the season, Kuperman achieved a career milestone at the Open d'Andorra, winning the junior gold medal; this marked his first victory in an international competition. He continued to reach the podium at other minor international events, taking the bronze medal at the EduSport Trophy in Bucharest and the silver medal at the Tallink Hotels Cup in Tallinn.

Competing on the ISU Junior Grand Prix series, Kuperman finished seventh at JGP Thailand and fifth at JGP Armenia. He found considerable success at other junior international events, winning gold medals at both the Denkova-Staviski Cup and the Santa Claus Cup, as well as taking the silver medal at the Bavarian Open. He concluded his season at the 2024 World Junior Figure Skating Championships in Taipei, where he finished nineteenth.

From 2024-25 season, Kuperman began training under Galit Chait Moracci and Evgeni Krasnopolski. Kuperman remained on the junior level and was assigned to two Junior Grand Prix events. At his first assignment, the JGP Czech Republic in Ostrava, he placed fourth in the short program with 72.75 points. In the short program, he landed a clean triple Axel for the first time in an ISU-recognized competition.^[2] In the free skate, he scored 137.72 points, placing third in that segment ahead of eventual bronze medalist Adam Hagara. However, Kuperman finished fourth overall with a total score of 210.47, missing the podium by a narrow margin of 0.76 points behind Hagara. In the free skate, he landed a clean quadruple Toe loop for the first time in an ISU-recognized competition.^[2]

At his second event, the JGP Poland (Solidarity Cup), Kuperman set a new personal best in the short program with a score of 75.58, placing second going into the free skate. He finished fourth in the free skate and fourth overall with a total of 195.38 points. It was another heartbreakingly close result; he missed the bronze medal by just 0.48 points, finishing behind South Korea’s Minkyu Seo, the 2024 World Junior champion.

Later in the season, Kuperman found success in senior and junior competitions, winning gold medals at the Diamond Spin, NRW Trophy, and Bavarian Open. The Santa Claus Cup and the Bavarian Open served as qualification events for Israel’s junior men’s figure skaters—Kuperman, Nikita Sheiko, and Kirill Sheiko.^[3] Based on the combined results, Kuperman earned Israel’s berth for the World Junior Figure Skating Championships. He concluded his season at the 2025 World Junior Figure Skating Championships in Debrecen, where he finished twelfth. In the free skate, he landed a clean quadruple Salchow for the first time at an ISU-recognized competition.^[4]

Kuperman moved up to the senior level for international competition. He opened the season at the Cranberry Cup International, finishing fourth. He was subsequently assigned to ISU Skate to Milano, the final Olympic qualifying competition, where he placed tenth. Later in the season, he captured his first senior international title, winning the gold medal at the Denkova-Staviski Cup, where he landed a clean quadruple Lutz for the first time.^[5] He also competed at the Warsaw Cup, part of the ISU Challenger Series, where he finished sixth. He also competed at 2025 CS Golden Spin of Zagreb and marked his new personal best, 78.08, in SP. He finished 15th at the competition. He won the Israeli Figure Skating Championships in 2025.

In January, Kuperman finished seventh at the 2026 European Figure Skating Championships in his debut at this event. "I was super nervous today,” he said after the free skate. “I’m so happy that I could skate to secure a second spot for Israel. It’s always nice to be able to qualify more spots, and that was my goal that I had in my mind."^[6]

He is capable of performing three types of quadruple jumps—Lutz, Salchow, and toe loop—as well as all triple jumps.

His quadruple Lutz was first successfully landed at the 2025 Denkova–Staviski Cup, unofficially recognized by the ISU.^[5] He landed the quadruple Salchow for the first time in an ISU-recognized competition at the 2025 World Junior Championships,^[4] and the quadruple toe loop at the 2024 JGP Czech Skate, marking the first successful attempt in an ISU-recognized event^[2]

• Tamir Kuperman at the International Skating Union