Alina Zagitova

Alina Ilnazovna Zagitova (Алина Ильназовна Загитова; born 18 May 2002) is a Russian figure skater.

After the family moved back to Izhevsk in 2008, she started training with coach Natalia Antipina.

In 2015, she moved to Moscow to be coached by Eteri Tutberidze and Sergei Dudakov.

At the 2016–17 Junior Grand Prix Final, she became the first junior lady to achieve a total score above the 200 mark.

Zagitova has broken the world record once under the old system and four times under the new system.

Zagitova had her first formal skating lessons as a four-year-old with Damira Pichugina in Almetyevsk, Tatarstan, where her father was a hockey coach for the Neftyanik club.

Zagitova finished 9th at the 2016 Russian Junior Championships after placing 12th in the short program and 8th in the free skate.

Zagitova's international debut came in late August 2016 at a 2016–17 ISU Junior Grand Prix (JGP) competition in Saint-Gervais-les-Bains, France; ranked first in both segments, she won the gold medal ahead of Kaori Sakamoto.

Her total score at the event, 194.37 points, was the second highest ever achieved by a ladies' single skater on the junior level, behind only Polina Tsurskaya.

Zagitova took the bronze medal at her JGP event in Slovenia, behind Japanese skaters Rika Kihira and Marin Honda.

The results qualified her to the 2016–17 JGP Final, held in December in Marseille.

In France, Zagitova ranked first in both segments and scored new junior ladies' records in all categories.

She was awarded the gold medal with a total of 207.43 points, 13 points above her teammate and silver medalist Anastasiia Gubanova (194.07).

She became the first junior lady skater in history to have a total score above the 200 mark.

Earlier in her career, she won gold at the 2017 World Junior Championships and at the 2016–17 Junior Grand Prix Final.

Competing on the senior level in late December, Zagitova ranked third in the short and second in the free at the 2017 Russian Championships, winning the silver medal behind her training partner, Evgenia Medvedeva.

In February 2017, Zagitova won the gold medal at the European Youth Olympic Festival in Turkey.

At the 2017 World Junior Championships in Taipei, Zagitova placed first after the short program with 70.58 points.

In the free program, she also placed first and won gold medal.

She set two new world record of 138.02 points for junior ladies' free skating, and 208.60 points for combined total.

Zagitova began the 2017–18 season with a win at the CS Lombardia Trophy, after placing third in the short but first in the free, with a total score of 218.46.

For the 2017–18 Grand Prix Season, Zagitova was assigned to two events, Cup of China and Internationaux de France.

At China, she was fourth after the short program, but rallied to win the free skate, and won the gold medal overall with a total competition score of 213.88.

At the Internationaux de France, Zagitova placed fifth in the short program after a fall on her triple lutz and several under-rotation deductions.

However, she placed first in the free skate with a new personal best score of 151.34 and took gold.

Her results allowed her to qualify for the 2017–18 Grand Prix Final.

At the Grand Prix Final, Zagitova scored a personal best in the short program, 76.27, and was in second place behind Kaetlyn Osmond heading into the free skate.

Zagitova placed first in the free skate, despite two minor mistakes, and received a personal best overall competition score of 223.30, becoming the 2017–18 Grand Prix Final champion.

Later that month, she won the Russian National title, in the absence of her teammate Evgenia Medvedeva, earning first in both segments for a total score of 233.59 points.

She is the 2018 Olympic champion, the 2019 World champion, the 2018 European champion, 2017–18 Grand Prix Final champion, and the 2018 Russian national champion.

Zagitova also won a silver medal in the team event at the 2018 Winter Olympics, representing the Olympic Athletes from Russia team.

Zagitova is the only Russian female figure skater who has won gold at the Olympic Games, World Figure Skating Championships, European Figure Skating Championships and Grand Prix of Figure Skating Final.

She is the first Muslim athlete to win an Olympic figure skating gold medal, a world title and the Super Slam.

She is the youngest and second ladies' singles skater, after Yuna Kim, to win gold in all major ISU championship titles including the Junior Grand Prix Series and Final, World Junior Championships, Grand Prix Series and Final, European Championships, World Championships, and Winter Olympic Games.

At the 2018 Europeans in Moscow, Zagitova finished first, winning over Medvedeva who had remained unbeaten for more than two years.

The following day, 21 January, Zagitova was named to the Russian Olympic team (together with Medvedeva and Maria Sotskova).

At the Olympics team event, the 10 points Zagitova earned for the first place in the ladies' free skating helped Olympic Athletes from Russia to a silver medal in the competition.

She scored 158.08, setting a new personal best and breaking the record for the highest-ever technical score in ladies' team figure skating.

In the ladies' individual event, Zagitova skated a clean short program and posted a world record score of 82.92, beating the previous record of 81.61 that Medvedeva had posted earlier that evening.

Her total score of 239.57 was a new personal best.