[2] At the age of 15, he moved to Bulgaria to skate with Margarita Toteva for that country but the partnership ended due to her injury.

[4][6] They initially worked on a free dance to Schindler's List but when they wanted to add a faster section they thought it looked too much like a hodgepodge; after consultation with Tatiana Tarasova, they began working on a new free dance to Masquerade Waltz at the start of August.

[4][6] The pain persisted despite therapy, preventing them from training fully and resulting in their withdrawal from the 2008 World Championships.

[4] Shabalin spent five weeks in treatment in Munich, Germany, while Domnina trained on her own in Odintsovo, near Moscow.

[4] In June 2008, Domnina/Shabalin announced they were leaving their longtime coach Alexei Gorshkov and moving from Russia to the United States to train with husband-and-wife coaches Natalia Linichuk and Gennadi Karponosov at the IceWorks Skating Complex in Aston, Pennsylvania.

Shabalin decided to use a brace in practice and competition to limit the movement and protect his knee.

[9] Domnina/Shabalin won the bronze medal at the 2010 Olympics and withdrew from the World Championships as a result of continued problems with his knee.