Alina Zagitova is a Russian figure skater who was born in Izhevsk on May 18, 2002. She began ice skating in 2002 at the age of just five. Although still in her teens, this talented young skater is making waves in the world of figure skating. She has made significant personal achievements and is set for a successful career in her chosen sport. Most recently, she was part of the figure skating team representing Russia at the 2018 Winter Sports in PyeongChang. She won a gold medal, along with her teammates, when Russia came in the first position in the team figure skating event. This has risen her to prominence in the public eye. Here are five more things you might not know about Alina Zaitova.
1. She had No Name for a Year
When Alina was born to an ice hockey coach and his wife, they could not think of a name for their new daughter. This is not an uncommon predicament for new parents who find it difficult to choose the perfect moniker for their child. However, this is a matter that is usually resolved in a matter of days or, at the most, weeks. This was not the case for Alina as she did not have a name for a full year after her birth. Her parents finally decided to call her Alina after Alina Kabaeva, a rhythmic gymnast.
2. She Lives in Moscow
Alina Zagitova is originally from Izhevsk. When she was younger she trained under Natalia Antipina. However, in 2015, she began to be coached by Sergei Dudakiv and Eteri Tutberidze, who are based in Moscow. Alina and her family moved to Moscow, so they were closer to where she was training.
3. She was the First Person to Beat Evgenia Medvedeva in Two Years
When Alina Zagitova competed in the 2018 Europeans in Moscow, she achieved something that very few had expected was possible, she finished the competition in the first position and this meant that she did better than her teammate Evgenia Medvedeva. What was so surprising about this was that Medvedeva had remained unbeaten for the previous two years.
4. She is the 2018 Russian National Champion
So far, 2018 has been an amazing year for Alina Zagitova and one of the highlights has been earning the accolade of Russian National Champion. At the Russian championships, her teammate Medvedeva was absent and this left the field wide open for Zagitova to take the gold. In both segments of the competition, she finished in the first position and had a total score in the event of 233.59 points.
5. She Has Set Records
Even though she has only enjoyed a short career in figure skating so far, Alina Zagitova has already broken records. She was the first female junior skater to achieve over 200 points, She set the junior ladies’ short program record, and she set the record for the free program at the junior-level. Furthermore, Zagitova has also set the record for the combined total at the junior-level ladies’ events and also achieved the highest recorded technical score of 158.08 in the ladies’ team figure skating at the 2018 Winter Olympics in Pyeongchang.
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