Valerii Viktorovich Kolesov (, born 26 January 2001) is a Russian pair skater. With his former partner, Kseniia Akhanteva, he is the 2020 World Junior silver medalist, the 2020 Russian Junior National silver medalist, and the 2019–20 Junior Grand Prix Final bronze medalist. Career Early years Kolesov began learning to skate in 2005. He and his first pair skating partner, Kseniia Akhanteva, began competing together in 2014. 2016–2017 season Coached by Vasilii Velikov in Saint Petersburg, Akhanteva/Kolesov made their international debut in late August 2016, placing seventh at the Junior Grand Prix (JGP) competition in Ostrava, Czech Republic. In November, they won the junior silver medal at the Volvo Open Cup, finishing second behind their teammates Nika Osipova / Aleksandr Galiamov. 2017–2018 season In September, Akhanteva/Kolesov placed sixth at the 2017 JGP competition in Riga, Latvia. The pair had the same final result at the 2018 Russian Junior Championships, which took place in January in Saransk. In April, they took silver at the Russian Youth Championships – Elder Age, where they finished second to Amina Atakhanova / Nikita Volodin and ahead of Apollinariia Panfilova / Dmitry Rylov. 2018–2019 season Coached by Ludmila Velikova, Nikolai Velikov and Vasilii Velikov, Akhanteva/Kolesov started their season in August on the 2018 JGP series. Ranked second in the short and third in the free, they won the bronze medal in Bratislava, Slovakia, contributing to a Russian sweep of the pairs' podium. Akhanteva/Kolesov were more than 11 points behind the champions, their training partners Anastasia Mishina / Aleksandr Galiamov, but lost to the silver medalists, Apollinariia Panfilova / Dmitry Rylov, by a margin of only 0.13 points. In September, they outscored their teammates and training partners, Polina Kostiukovich / Dmitrii Ialin, by about four points for gold at the JGP in Ostrava, Czech Republic, where they were second in the short program and first in the free skate. With these results they qualified to the 2018–2019 Junior Grand Prix Final, where they placed fourth overall. Akhanteva/Kolesov went on to compete at 2019 Russian Nationals, their first-ever senior competition, and finished tenth there. Unfortunately, they had to withdraw from the junior event after Kseniia seriously injured her leg. 2019–2020 season Akhanteva/Kolesov started their season with a silver medal at the 2019 Junior Grand Prix competition in Lake Placid, United States. Ranked second in the short and second in the free, they finished 15 points behind the gold