Alena Leonova

Alena Igorevna Leonova (Алёна Игоревна Леонова; born 23 November 1990) is a retired Russian figure skater.

Alena Igorevna Leonova was born on 23 November 1990 in Saint Petersburg (Leningrad).

She has a sister and brother, both of whom skated when they were young.

Her podium finish was Russia's first in ladies' singles since 2005 when Irina Slutskaya won the title.

In her junior career, Leonova became a two-time Cup of Nice gold medalist and won silver at the 2007 Junior Grand Prix in Romania.

She also won the silver medal at the 2008 Russian Junior Championships.

In August 2008, she partially tore ligaments in her right ankle joint.

She placed fourth at the 2009 European Championships.

She then won gold at the 2009 World Junior Championships., a surprising win as the focus was on Caroline Zhang, Ashley Wagner, and Elene Gedevanishvili as the leading contenders for the title.

After her win, the Russian Federation rented an apartment for her.

Leonova won the bronze medal at the 2009 Cup of Russia and the silver medal at the 2009 NHK Trophy.

These results qualified her for the Grand Prix Final, where she placed sixth.

She then won the silver medal at the 2010 Russian Championships and was selected to compete at the 2010 Winter Olympics, where she placed ninth.

She concluded her season by placing 13th at the 2010 World Championships.

Leonova started her season at the 2010 Coupe de Nice where she won the gold medal.

After picking up a pair of bronze medals at the 2010 Finlandia Trophy and 2010 Cup of China, she won another silver medal at the 2011 Russian Championships.

Leonova then finished fourth at the 2011 World Championships.

Following the event, she began working full-time with Nikolai Morozov in Moscow.

Leonova decided to compete in three Grand Prix events in the 2011–12 season.

After placing fourth at the 2011 Skate Canada, she won bronze at 2011 NHK Trophy and silver at 2011 Cup of Russia to qualify for her second Grand Prix Final.

At the Grand Prix Final, she won the bronze medal.

She is the 2012 World silver medalist, the 2011 Grand Prix Final bronze medalist, the 2009 World Junior champion, and a three-time (2010–2012) Russian national medalist.

Leonova won the bronze medal at the 2012 Russian Championships.

At the 2012 European Championships, she finished seventh and sustained an injury to her left knee during the free skate.

Leonova placed first in the short program at the 2012 World Championships on her way to her first World medal, a silver.

Leonova was named Russia's team captain at the 2012 World Team Trophy.

Competing with a cold, she finished seventh in the ladies' event.

Leonova finished seventh at the 2012 Skate America.

She placed sixth at her next Grand Prix event, the 2012 Rostelecom Cup.

Her coach attributed Leonova's poor performances at the events to worn out equipment.

Leonova finished seventh at the 2013 Russian Championships where she competed with a new long program that was put together one week before the competition.

She was not assigned to the 2013 European Championships because Nikol Gosviani placed ahead of Leonova amongst the age-eligible ladies.

Leonova was sent to the 2013 World Championships.

She returned to her long program from the previous season and finished thirteenth at the event.

She is also the 2014–15 ISU Challenger Series runner-up.

In April 2019, Leonova married figure skater Anton Shulepov.

On 18 February 2022, gave birth to a son Artemy.

Leonova started skating at the age of four.

Coached initially by Marina Vakhrameeva, she later moved to the group of Tatiana Mishina, who was assisted by Alla Piatova.

Piatova formed her own group and became Leonova's main coach when she was 10.