Alina Ilnazovna Zagitova (pron. Zah-GHIT-toh-vah; Russian: Алина Ильназовна Загитова;[2]born 18 May 2002) is a Russian figure skater. She is the 2018 Olympic champion, 2018 Europeanchampion, 2017–18 Grand Prix Final champion, and 2018 Russian national champion. Zagitova won a silver medal in the team event at the 2018 Winter Olympics, as part of the OAR's team, and a gold medal at the Womens Single Skating event[3].
Earlier in her career, she won gold at the 2017 World Junior Championships and at the 2016–17 Junior Grand Prix Final, where she became the first junior lady to achieve a total score above the 200 mark, scoring 207.43 points.
Personal life
Zagitova was born on 18 May 2002 in Izhevsk,Udmurtia.[4] Her father, Ilnaz Zagitov (ru), is an ice hockey coach from Tatarstan.[5][6] She has a sister, Sabina, who is seven years younger than her.[7]She was nameless for a year until her parents decided to name her "Alina" after watching Russian rhythmic gymnast Alina Kabaeva.[8] She moved toMoscow at age 13 alongside her grandmother, and continues to live with her.[9]
Career
Early years
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.[10][4] After the family moved back to Izhevsk in 2008 she started training with coach Natalia Antipina.[11] In 2015 she moved to Moscow to be coached by Eteri Tutberidze and Sergei Dudakov.[4]
Zagitova finished 9th at the 2016 Russian Junior Championships after placing 12th in the short program and 8th in the free skate.
2016–2017 season
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.[12] Her total score at the event, 194.37 points, was the second highestever 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 andMarin 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. 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.[13] In February 2017, Zagitova won the gold medal at the European Youth Olympic Festival in Turkey.
2017–2018 season
Zagitova began her 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 2017–2018 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 underrotation 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 2017–2018 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 Medvedeva's absence, earning first in both segments for a total score of 233.59 points.
At the 2018 Europeans, held in Moscow, Zagitova finished first, winning over teammate Evgenia Medvedeva. It was the first time Medvedeva had been beaten in over two years. On the next day, January 21, Zagitova was named to the Russian Olympic team (together with Medvedeva and Sotskova).[14]
At the Olympics team event, the 10 points Zagitova earned for the first place in the ladies' free skating helped 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 posted earlier that evening.[15] Zagitova won the gold medal in the event. Her total score of 239.57 was a new personal best.
During the 2018 Olympics, The New York Times reported that Zagitova had performed the technically most difficult program in ladies figure skating in the history of the Olympics by performing at a difficulty factor level of 46.1, approximately 25% higher than that of Kristy Yamaguchi and Tara Lipinski in the 1990s, and more than double that of Dorothy Hamill during the Olympics in the 1970s. Previously, in 1998 Lipinsky had redefined the high standard of modern ladies figure skating by being the first woman to include a triple loop-triple loop combination in her Olympic program. By comparison, Zagitova completed a triple lutz-triple loop combination at the 2018 Olympics and "was the only skater ... to execute all of her jumps during the second half of the program, when jumps are awarded a 10 percent bonus."[16]
In the free skate Zagitova performed at the 2018 Olympics her eleven jumps occurred in the second half of the program. This capitalized on the ISU scoring system, which awards a 10% bonus to jumps performed on "tired legs".[17][18] However, her combination jump of triple lutz–triple loop was technically more difficult and higher scoring than those performed by her competitors irrespective of where it appears in the program.[19][20][21] By comparison to Zagitova's gold medal performance at the 2018 Olympics, The New York Times reported that "Her teammate ... Evgenia Medvedeva, 18, was the only woman who landed two triple-triple combinations in the long program."[22]
Since first taking up figure skating in 2008, Zagitova has dropped out of figure skating seven times and returned each time.[23] Throughout childhood, her hobby was drawing.[24]
List of Zagitova's world record scores
Zagitova has set one senior world record score and five junior world record scores.
Programs
Competitive highlights
GP: Grand Prix; CS: Challenger Series; JGP: Junior Grand Prix
Detailed results
Senior level
Small medals for short and free programs awarded only at ISU Championships. At team events, medals awarded for team results only. Current ISU world bests highlighted in bold and italic. Personal bests highlighted in bold.
Junior level
Small medals for short and free programs awarded only at ISU Championships. Current ISU world bests highlighted in bold and italic. Previous ISU world bests highlighted in bold.
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