Meda Variakojytė
Meda Variakojytė is a Lithuanian figure skater. She is the 2024 EduSport Trophy champion, the 2023 Kaunas Ice Autumn Cup champion, and a three-time Lithuanian national champion. At the 2025 World Championships, Variakojytė became the first Lithuanian women's single skater to qualify a berth for the country in an Olympic Games.
Variakojytė is the 2023 Lithuanian junior national champion and the 2022 Lithuanian junior national silver medalist.
Career
Variakojytė began figure skating in 2012 in her hometown, Kaunas. Her first coach was Indrė Paulaitienė, before Dmitrij Kozlov became her head coach in 2023.She won the silver medal at the Lithuanian Junior Championships in 2022 and gold in 2023.
2023–24 season
Variakojytė began the season by finishing fifteenth at the 2023 Junior Grand Prix Turkey. She then competed at the 2023 Jelgava Cup in the senior level and won the silver medal with a score of 155.95. Additionally, she met the technical elements score requirement to compete at the 2024 World Championships. At the 2023 CS Nepela Memorial, she finished ninth and scored a personal best in the free skate. She then placed fourth at the senior 2023 Volvo Open Cup. She won a silver medal at the 2023 Bosphorus Cup behind Ting Tzu-Han.Variakojytė won her first senior national title at the 2024 Lithuanian Championships. She competed at the 2024 World Junior Championships and finished thirty-ninth in the short program with a score of 43.57, failing to advance to the free skate segment. She also competed at the senior-level World Championships and finished thirty-fifth in the short program and did not advance to the free skate segment.
2024–25 season
Variakojytė started the season at the 2024 Junior Grand Prix Poland and finished seventeenth. She then finished sixth at the 2024 CS Nepela Memorial, earning new personal bests in the short program and total. At the 2024 CS Tallinn Trophy, she finished thirteenth. She then successfully defended her Lithuanian national title. She won another gold medal at the 2024 EduSport Trophy, and she won a silver medal at the 2025 Volvo Open Cup. She then finished fourth at the 2025 Tallink Hotels Cup.Variakojytė competed at the 2025 World Championships and scored 50.98 points. She finished twenty-fourth in the short program and advanced to the free skate by only 0.01 points. As a result, Lithuania received a quota for the 2026 Winter Olympics, marking the first time Lithuania qualified a skater for the Olympics in women's singles. She went on to finish twenty-fourth overall.
2025–26 season
In July, it was announced that Variakojytė had made a coaching change from Dmitrj Kozlov to Kirill Khaliavin and Jūlija Tepliha. She was one of three Lithuanian woman competing for the Lithuanian Olympic quota she had won; the Lithuanian federation announced the decision would be based on their results on the ISU Challenger Series as well as at the Lithuanian Championships in December.At the Volvo Open Cup in November, she scored just over 60 points in her short program, which was a Lithuanian national record.
In December, Variakojytė was ill and competed at the 2026 Lithuanian Championships with a fever. Despite this, she won the event and was awarded the 2026 Winter Olympic spot.