Athletistic / Figure skating. On May 18, Alina Zagitova turns 22. Already at such a young age, she can undoubtedly be called a legendary athlete who has won all major figure skating competitions. Alina is the youngest figure skater to win every major competition, both at the adult and junior level.

Zagitova began her golden journey in adult figure skating during the 2017/2018 season. By a happy coincidence, it turned out to be Olympic: in February 2018, the Winter Olympics took place in Pyeongchang. After winning the Russian Championship in December 2017, and then becoming the strongest at the European Championship (January 2018), Alina triumphed at the 2018 Olympic Games, becoming Olympic champion at the age of 15. The main goal of any athlete has been achieved long before reaching adulthood! It seemed that Alina had nowhere to struggle, but she herself did not think so.

Zagitova really wanted to become the first Russian woman and the second figure skater in history to win all major competitions (Olympics, World Championships, ISU Grand Prix Final). And if Alina dealt with the first and last points of the 2017/2018 season, then she had to tame the World Championship longer.

Zagitova’s first adult World Championship took place in March 2018 in Milan (Italy). The Russian arrived there on the wave of success at the Olympics and in the Grand Prix final. But we must not forget that at that time Alina was not even 16 years old. The young organism (including psychology) could not withstand such a load – the figure skater’s battery was exhausted. At the 2018 World Championships in Milan, Alina took 2nd place in the short program, losing less than a point to the favorite of the local audience, Caroline Kostner. This is despite the fact that at the Olympics Zagitova confidently won the short program, sealing the fate of the Pyeongchang gold medal. In the free program, it was a shame to watch Alina – the girl fell three times while performing “Don Quixote” and ultimately took only 5th place. The Red Ballerina’s final goal en route to a hat-trick has been delayed by at least a year.

Photo source: image from the show

In the offseason, there was a famous breakup between Eteri Tutberidze and Evgenia Medvedeva, who left to train in Canada. At that time, Alina remained the only prima singer of the legendary Russian coach, because Anna Shcherbakova, Alexandra Trusova and Alena Kostornaya were just beginning to take their first steps at the adult level.

Zagitova began the season by performing at the Nebelhorn Trophy tournament in Germany, where she won a convincing victory with three new world records – in the short program, the judges awarded Alina 79.93 points, in the free program, the Russian obtained 158.50 points and in total her result was 238.43 points.

In November, the Olympic champion triumphantly performed on the stages of the ISU Grand Prix in Helsinki (Finland) and Moscow. However, its form was questionable. The fact is that in Helsinki, in the short program, Alina, performing the “triple Lutz – triple loop” stunt, made a mistake on the last one, after which the next day she missed the “triple Lutz – triple loop” stunt in the free program. And at the home stage of the Moscow Grand Prix, Alina, having received a record 80.78 points for the short program, skated below her capabilities in the free program and scored 142.17, or more 16 points shy of his personal best.

The ISU Grand Prix Final that season took place in Vancouver, Canada. Alina in the capital of the 2010 Olympics showed the second result in the short program (77.93), losing by almost 5 points to Japanese Rika Kihira (82.51). In the free skate, Zagitova skated very confidently, but was no longer able to catch up with Kihira and ended up finishing second.

Photo source: ISU

An even more alarming bell rang in December during the Russian Championship. At the Ice Palace in St. Petersburg, Alina performed an excellent short program (80.62), but in the free program she took only 12th place, falling twice during skating. As a result, she took the final 5th place and qualified for the European Championship only because she was the current winner. Only later did the media learn that Alina participated in the national championship with a serious burn on her leg.

In January, at the 2019 European Championships in Minsk, Alina again failed in her free program, but managed to become the silver medalist of the competition. The only scary thing was that: a) Zagitova lost to the winner (Russian Sofya Samodurova) by more than 15 points; b) Alina scored less than 200 points on the sum of two programs. With such basic information, the task of winning the World Championship has become a fantasy.

In 2019, the World Figure Skating Championships took place in Saitama (Japan). This fact called into question Zagitova’s chances of obtaining gold. The fact is that that season two Japanese stars reached the adult level – Rika Kihira and Kaori Sakamoto. The first confidently beat Alina in the Grand Prix final, and the second was considered an even more competent figure skater (she was able to confirm this after Russia was withdrawn from international tournaments, having won three medals in ‘consecutive gold medals at the world championships). For the first time in many years, Russia was not the favorite at the Women’s Singles World Championships. If we’ve already learned everything about Alina, then the other two Russians were also far from ideal. Evgenia Medvedeva could not end up with Brian Orser, and Sofya Samodurova was objectively inferior to the Japanese.

Photo source: FFKKR

Zagitova’s unimportant results did not guarantee her participation in the 2019 World Cup. If Elizaveta Tuktamysheva had not suffered from pneumonia, then perhaps Alina would not have gone to Saitama at all. But destiny decided otherwise. It is interesting that Alina had to write out a receipt for the trip to Japan.

— Before the World Championships in Japan, I even wrote a receipt in which I promise to attend competitions, where I undertake to skate well and do everything in my power to perform at these Championships of the world. Somewhere, the federation even has this receipt, – Alina admitted after the world championship in an interview with Channel One.

The Russian Figure Skating Federation (FFFKR) forced her to make such a decision. And I have to say it worked. In the short program, Alina looked confident in herself for the first time in six months and managed to execute the short program cleanly. As a result, the Russian received 82.08 points for her performance, setting her personal best. Zagitova outperformed all the favorites so much that she managed to beat her closest pursuer, Kaori Sakamoto, by 5.22 points.

  • Tarasova touchingly congratulated Zagitova on her birthday

To achieve the much-desired victory, the third missing riddle in the collection of three victories, Alina had to take one step, but the most difficult one. A five-point lead gave hope, but results throughout the season suggested that might not be enough. It was necessary to find something that would make the Russian woman jump over herself. And we must pay tribute to Alina, the skater herself found this an irritating factor. In order to properly connect with the free program, Zagitova deliberately went to social networks and began reading comments on her posts. The 16-year-old Russian tried not to pay much attention to the praise, but focused on the criticism.

— To get angry before the free program in Saitama, I read several comments where they wrote that Zagitova did not have a single title this season, that she could not win it in Japan because she had failed in the last world championship. All this excited me“, the figure skater later said.

In her free program, Zagitova performed seven (!) triple jumps, including the stunts “triple Lutz – triple toe loop”, “triple Lutz – triple loop” and “triple flip – double Axel – double loop”. Alina managed to accomplish everything she had planned and received 155.42 points from the judges for her performance. As a result, with a total score of 237.50, Alina became the world champion. She was 12.74 points ahead of Kazakh Elizabeth Tursynbaeva, the 2019 World Cup silver medalist.

Photo source: ISU

Gold in Saitama has become much more difficult for Alina Zagitova, but perhaps that makes it even more valuable than victory at the Olympics. The Russian woman suffered from this triumph, going through failures, growth, criticism, as well as a strong desire to give up everything and rest. Remember that at the time of the 2019 World Cup, Alina had two months to wait until she turned 17. She was a child who managed to behave like an adult!

Thanks to her victory at this tournament, Alina Zagitova forever wrote her name in the history of figure skating. In two seasons, at such a young age, she won every major figure skating title. Given the level of competition, it would be almost impossible to repeat this success in today’s realities.

In fact, the Saitama tournament became Alina Zagitova’s swan song in amateur figure skating. But it must be admitted that this plot turned out to be a real happy ending.

Nikita Serbakov, Athletistic



Athletistic