Natasha Chikina

Coaching Experience

• Nebraska Head Diving Coach, 2005-Present
• U.S. Diving Regional Training Center Assistant Head Coach, 2001-05
• USC Assistant Diving Coach, 1998-99
• Trojan Diving Club Assistant Coach, 1998-2001

Diving Experience

• Olympic Qualifier (1996, Atlanta; 2000, Sydney)
• NCAA All-American (1997, 1998)
• Fourth on Platform at 1998 NCAA Championships
• Pac-10 Three-Meter Champion (1997, 1998)

Former Olympian Natasha Chikina (chick-EE-nuh) is entering her 15th season as Nebraska’s head diving coach in 2020-21. 

Chikina has helped Nebraska rise among the nation’s top diving programs.

The Husker divers have claimed at least one All-America award in five consecutive trips to the NCAA Championships, while sending at least one diver to the national meet in seven straight seasons.

“As a coach, my job is to recognize the highest potential of each diver,” Chikina said. “I want to make them believe in themselves by creating a positive and goal-setting environment. With hard work, discipline and encouragement, I want to bring every one of them to their highest level of performance.”

In 2019, Abi Knapton solidified her spot as greatest collegiate diver in Nebraska history by capturing her third straight first-team All-America award on the platform. Knapton, who redshirted in 2019-20 and will compete as a fifth-year senior in 2020-21, finished fifth on platform in 2019, after an eighth-place finish in 2018 and a fourth-place performance in 2017. She added an honorable-mention All-America award in the three-meter dive in 2019, becoming the first Husker diver in history to win two All-America honors at the same NCAA Championship.

In 2019, freshman diver Jessica Warak joined Knapton in competition at the NCAA Championships, taking 22nd on the platform.

With Knapton and Warak both redshirting in 2019-20, Sara Troyer stepped into the spotlight by earning CSCAA All-America honors on both the one- and three-meter boards. Troyer's emergence could give the Big Red three returning NCAA-qualifying divers in 2020-21.

In 2017, Knapton became the first freshman diver in school history to earn first-team All-America honors. She was also named Nebraska’s Outstanding Female Newcomer across all sports for her diving performances during the season. 

In 2015-16, Anna Filipcic earned honorable-mention All-America accolades for finishing 10th on the one-meter board at the 2016 NCAA Championships. Filipcic qualified for the NCAA Championships all four years (2014-17) of her illustrious career for the Big Red. Filipcic was also a two-time Big Ten Conference runner-up, accomplishing the feat on the one-meter board in 2016 and the three-meter dive in 2017.

In 2020-21, Chikina will try to help Knapton, Troyer and Warak, along with senior Grace Tiernon, junior Hallie Roman and redshirt freshman Reagan Hinze develop into the best diving unit in Husker history. 

The young Husker diving group will try to add to Nebraska’s list of accomplishments under Chikina, which includes 40 appearances at the NCAA Zone diving meet over the past 14 years. 

Chikina’s coaching career at Nebraska followed a successful diving career at the University of Southern California and competition at two summer Olympic Games.

Chikina, a native of Kazakhstan, competed at the Atlanta (1996) and Sydney (2000) Summer Olympic Games. Chikina finished 15th at the Atlanta Games, before capturing a ninth-place finish on the 10-meter platform in Sydney. 

Between competitions, Chikina placed fourth on platform at the 1998 NCAA Championships for the University of Southern California. She earned NCAA All-America honors in 1997 and 1998.  She was also the Pac-10 champion on the three-meter springboard in 1997 and 1998.

Chikina competed at the Goodwill Games (1994), the World Championships (1994-96) and the FINA Grand Prix (2000), placing as high as third in both the World Championships and FINA Grand Prix.

Following her diving career as an athlete, Chikina immediately began her quest to become a head diving coach.  She was the assistant coach of the Trojan Diving Club from 1998 to 2001, coaching two Junior Olympic national champions, and the assistant diving coach at her alma mater, USC, in 1998-99, helping coach future Olympians Troy Dumais and Dorte Linder.  

From 2001 to 2005, Chikina served as the assistant head coach at the U.S. Diving Regional Training Center where she took on many responsibilities.  Primarily, she coached a two-time Oklahoma state high school champion, two Junior Olympic National Team members and four Junior Olympic National qualifiers.  Among her other responsibilities, Chikina scouted, recruited and judged competitions up to the national level. She also scheduled team trips, camps and programs. Chikina coached at the 2003 U.S. Diving National Training Camp, instructing junior national-level athletes in the spotting belt, trampoline and dryboard.

Chikina earned her bachelor’s degree in social science and communications from USC in 1999, after completing her physical education and coaching degree from the Kazakh Institute of Physical Education in Almaty, Kazakhstan, in 1996.

Natasha and her husband, Kris, moved to Lincoln in the summer of 2005. Kris served as a volunteer assistant for the Husker diving team in 2005-06 and is now coaching for the Nebraska Diving Club. The couple has two daughters, Katerina and Sophia.