Yulia Lipnitskaya

Yulia Vyacheslavovna Lipnitskaya (also spelled Julia Lipnitskaia; Юлия Вячеславовна Липницкая, ; born 5 June 1998) is a Russian retired competitive figure skater.

Yulia Lipnitskaya was born on 5 June 1998 in Yekaterinburg, Russia.

Lipnitskaya was raised by a single mother, Daniela Leonidovna Lipnitskaya, who gave her surname to Yulia.

Lipnitskaya's father, Vyacheslav, was drafted into the Russian army while her mother was pregnant, and he chose not to return to the family afterward.

Lipnitskaya began figure skating at age four when her mother took her to train under coach Elena Levkovets.

She skated in Yekaterinburg until 2009, when she and her mother began to discuss her future, concluding that they should relocate for her skating career.

They moved to Moscow where Lipnitskaya joined Eteri Tutberidze's group in March 2009.

In the 2009–10 season, Lipnitskaya placed fifth on the junior level at the 2010 Russian Championships.

She was fourth on the senior level the following season at the 2011 Russian Championships.

She also competed at the 2011 Russian Junior Championships but withdrew from the competition after the short program.

Lipnitskaya became age-eligible for junior international competition in the 2011–12 season.

She debuted on the Junior Grand Prix series at the Baltic Cup in Gdańsk, Poland, winning both programs to take the gold medal.

She then won her second assignment in Milan, Italy, to qualify for the Junior Grand Prix Final.

At the Junior Grand Prix Final in Quebec, Lipnitskaya placed first in both segments to win the gold medal.

She had no falls on the ice when competing during the 2011–12 season.

Lipnitskaya became age-eligible for some senior events but not the World or European Championships.

As a junior, Lipnitskaya won the 2012 World Junior Championships, 2011–12 JGP Final, and 2012 Russian Junior Championships.

Lipnitskaya won silver on the senior level at the 2012 Russian Championships, having placed third in the short program and first in the free skate.

She later took gold at the 2012 Russian Junior Championships.

At the World Junior Championships, she won gold while achieving the junior-level ladies' record for the combined total and the free skate.

She made her senior debut at the 2012 Finlandia Trophy where she won the gold medal.

Lipnitskaya was assigned to two Grand Prix events.

Having placed first in the short program and second in the free skate, Lipnitskaya won the silver medal at the 2012 Cup of China behind gold medalist Mao Asada.

The day before she left for Paris for the 2012 Trophee Eric Bompard, Lipnitskaya twisted her right ankle during off-ice training and could hardly do any jumps a day before the start of the event, but decided to compete in the short program as she felt better.

She placed first in the short program and third in the free skate and won the bronze medal.

Lipnitskaya qualified for the Grand Prix Final in Sochi, Russia, but withdrew due to injury — during training on 28 November, she lost balance on the entry to a spin, split her chin and sustained a slight concussion.

Doctors recommended that she stay off the ice for at least two weeks.

She resumed partial training in mid-December, omitting jumps and spins, and then after eight days began full training.

Needing more preparation time, Lipnitskaya withdrew from the senior Russian Championships.

She returned to competition at the 2013 Russian Junior Championships and finished in fifth place.

After the competition, Lipnitskaya said she was still working to return to form after her injury.

She then competed at the 2013 World Junior Championships where she won the silver medal with teammates Elena Radionova and Anna Pogorilaya taking the gold and bronze medals respectively.

Lipnitskaya selected all the music for her programs by herself.

For the 2013–14 season, she chose Mark Minkov's You Don't Give Up On Love (Russian: Не отрекаются, любя) for her short program, because she loves the song.

She was part of the Russian team that won the 2014 Winter Olympics team trophy.

Individually, Lipnitskaya is the 2014 World silver medalist, the 2014 European champion, the 2013–14 Grand Prix Final silver medalist, and a two-time Russian national silver medalist (2012 & 2014).

She retired from the professional sport in 2017 due to injuries and anorexia nervosa.

Lipnitskaya is the youngest Russian athlete to win a gold medal at the Winter Olympics.

Within the ladies' singles category, she is the youngest gold medalist at the European Championships.

She is also the second-youngest female figure skater to win a gold medal at the Olympics; Lipnitskaya was 15 years, 249 days old when Russia won the team trophy.