Alina Zagitova

Alina Ilnazovna Zagitova (Russian: Алина Ильназовна Загитова, IPA: [ɐˈlʲinə zɐˈɡʲitəvə]; born 18 May 2002) is a Russian former competitive figure skater. 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. She also won a silver medal in the team event at the 2018 Winter Olympics. Earlier in her career, she won gold at the 2017 World Junior Championships and at the 2016–17 Junior Grand Prix Final.

Having won all major International Skating Union (ISU) Championship titles at the junior and senior levels, Zagitova is the youngest and second women's singles skater, after Yuna Kim, to have completed a Super Slam. She is the second-youngest Olympic champion in women's single skating, behind Tara Lipinski. She holds the historical world record score in the women's short program. She was known for back-loading her programs, meaning she performed all jumps in the second half to receive a bonus on the jump's base value. This led to the ISU implementing a rule limiting the number of jumps that could receive the base value bonus, unofficially known as the "Zagitova rule".

During the 2019–20 season, Zagitova announced she would be taking a break from competitive figure skating, and as of 2025, has not returned to competition. Since then, she has co-hosted multiple seasons of the Channel One Russia show Ice Age and has done commentary and interviews at Russian figure skating competitions.

Early life

Zagitova was born on 18 May 2002 in Izhevsk, Udmurtia. She is the daughter of Leysan and Ilnaz Zagitov (ru), both Volga Tatars. Ilnaz Zagitov is an ice hockey coach from Tatarstan. Zagitova understands the Tatar language but does not speak it. She has a younger sister, Sabina, who was also a figure skater. She was nameless for a year until her parents decided to name her "Alina" after watching Russian rhythmic gymnast (and fellow Tatar) Alina Kabaeva.

When Zagitova was born, her father was playing hockey for the club Neftyanik Leninogorsk and taught her how to skate. The family moved to Almetyevsk when her father signed to play for Neftyanik Almetyevsk. Alina began skating at age four in Almetyevsk and was coached by Damira Pichugina. After the family moved back to Izhevsk, she started training with coach Natalia Antipina. She moved to Moscow at age 13 alongside her grandmother to train under Eteri Tutberidze.

Career

Early years

Zagitova began learning triple jumps after moving to Moscow, but she broke her arm and then her leg. Eteri Tutberidze then kicked her out of her training group but decided to bring her back. In January 2016, Zagitova made her debut at the Russian Junior Championships and finished ninth. One month later, she finished fourth in the junior division at the 2016 Russian Cup Final.

2016–17 season: World Junior champion

Eteri Tutberidze and Daniil Gleikhengauz choreographed a short program to music from Samson and Delilah and a free skate to music from Don Quixote for Zagitova's first international season. She began performing all of her jumps in the second half of the program to earn bonus points on the base value, giving her a major technical advantage over her competitors.

Zagitova's international debut came in late August 2016 at the 2016–17 ISU Junior Grand Prix (JGP) competition in Saint-Gervais-les-Bains, France. She ranked first in both segments and won the gold medal ahead of Japan's Kaori Sakamoto. Her total score at the event, 194.37 points, was the second highest ever achieved by a women's single skater on the junior level, behind only Polina Tsurskaya. She then won the bronze medal at the JGP event in Slovenia, behind Japanese skaters Rika Kihira and Marin Honda. The results qualified her for the 2016–17 Junior Grand Prix Final, held in December in Marseille. There, Zagitova ranked first in both segments and won the gold medal with a total of 207.43 points, 13 points above silver medalist Anastasiia Gubanova. She became the first junior women's skater in history to have a total score above the 200 point mark.

Competing at the senior level in late December, Zagitova ranked third in the short program and second in the free skate at the 2017 Russian Championships, winning the silver medal behind her training partner, Evgenia Medvedeva. In February, she won the gold medal at the Russian Junior Championships and was assigned to compete at the 2017 European Youth Olympic Festival. There, she won the gold medal by nearly 60 points ahead of Ukraine's Anastasia Gozhva. At the 2017 World Junior Championships in Taipei, Zagitova performed two clean programs and won the gold medal. She set the new junior world record scores in both the free skate and combined total.

2017–18 season: Olympic champion

Zagitova became age-eligible for senior international competitions in the 2017–18 season. In May 2017, she confirmed she would be moving up to the senior level. Zagitova and her coaches decided to keep her Don Quixote free skate from the prior season, but she had a new short program to music from the Black Swan and Moonlight soundtracks. She made her senior international debut at the 2017 CS Lombardia Trophy and won, after placing third in the short program but first in the free skate, 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 the Cup of China, she was fourth after falling in the short program, but she rallied to win the free skate and won the gold medal overall. At the Internationaux de France, she 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 won the gold medal. Her results qualified her for the 2017–18 Grand Prix Final. There, she scored a personal best in the short program, 76.27, and was in second place behind Kaetlyn Osmond heading into the free skate. She placed first in the free skate and received a personal best overall competition score of 223.30, becoming the 2017–18 Grand Prix Final champion.

Zagitova won the 2018 Russian Championships, in the absence of her teammate Evgenia Medvedeva, finishing first in both segments for a total score of 233.59 points. At the 2018 European Championships in Moscow, she won the title over Medvedeva, who had remained unbeaten for more than two years. The following day, Zagitova was named to the Russian Olympic team alongside Medvedeva and Maria Sotskova.

At the 2018 Winter Olympics, Zagitova was selected to compete in the free skate during the team event. She finished in first place with a new personal best score of 158.08, only 2.38 points away from Evgenia Medvedeva's world record. She earned 10 points for the Olympic Athletes from Russia, who won the silver medal behind Canada. In the 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. In the free skate, she missed the planned triple loop after her first triple Lutz, but she successfully added the combination to her second Lutz. Zagitova and Medvedeva both scored 156.65 points in the free skate, but Zagitova came out ahead thanks to her higher score in the short program. She won the gold medal in the event at the age of 15 years and 281 days, becoming the second-youngest Olympic champion in women's singles by 28 days behind Tara Lipinski.

After the Olympic Games, Zagitova competed at the 2018 World Championships in Milan. In the short program, she placed second to Carolina Kostner, but she fell three times in the free skate and only finished fifth overall. This was her only loss of the season.

2018–19 season: World champion

Zagitova entered the 2018–19 season with two new programs: a short program to music from The Phantom of the Opera and a free skate to music from Carmen Suite. She was scheduled to begin the season at the 2018 CS Ondrej Nepela Trophy in Slovakia, but she could not travel to the event due to issues with her travel documents. One week later, she began the season at the 2018 Nebelhorn Trophy in Oberstdorf, Germany. She finished first in the short program and free skate, winning the gold medal with 238.43 points. Because of a change in the ISU Judging System after the 2017–18 season, the ISU reset the world record scores. Thus, Zagitova set the new world records in the short program, free skate, and combined total. At the Japan Open, she helped Team Europe finish in second place by winning the free skate by 28.90 points over Kaori Sakamoto.