Which star got you into figure skating? Vote for your first love
Anastasia Matrosova September 4, 2024, 18:35 Moscow time Audio version: Your browser does not support the audio element.
Medvedeva’s tears, Trusova’s records, Plushenko’s monumentality: each has its own special moment in the heart.
Who brought you to figure skating? Perhaps it was the legendary confrontation between Alexei Yagudin and Evgeni Plushenko in Salt Lake? Evgenia Medvedeva’s tears after Anna Karenina in Pyeongchang? Phenomenal chemistry on the ice between Tatiana Volosozhar and Maxim Trankov?
Surely every fan has that one skater, that one performance that they saw for the first time and fell in love with the sport. Olympic drama (and more than one), brilliant victories at the World Championships, tough confrontation with an opponent, world records, a personal story of overcoming adversity, growth and transformation – these are the things that attract new fans.
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Ranking: Which star got you into figure skating?
Photo: Alexander Safonov, “Championship”
Anna Shcherbakova
Patience and hard work will perfect everything, but even without love for figure skating, it will not work. Anya skillfully combined the most difficult quadruple jumps and the presentation of the program. When it was necessary, Anya pulled herself together and gave her best. The Russian Championships alone – 2021 in Chelyabinsk after severe pneumonia and with fever is already worth it! The road to the Beijing Olympics was even more difficult, but it was there that clean and bright performances took place, bringing a gold medal and attracting new fans to the figure.
Photo: Alexander Safonov, “Championship”
Elizaveta Tuktamysheva
The empress of figure skating seemed to always be on the ice. Elizaveta Tuktamysheva’s career included three full Olympic cycles and a huge number of events, thanks to which one could fall in love with this figure skater and this sport. Victory at the World Championships, triple Axel, decline and revival, learning the quadruple, “oriental discos” and deep, dramatic images that brought tears to the eyes… Lisa also attracted fans with her daring show numbers: after the same Toxic, the number of subscribers on her social networks skyrocketed.
Photo by: RIA Novosti
Tatiana Volosozhar/Maxim Trankov
Did you mentally dance with Tatiana and Maxim while watching their “Masquerade” at the Sochi Olympics? It seemed impossible to resist their charm and the chemistry that this couple definitely has. That short program not only became doubly “golden” (both in the team and individual tournaments at the Olympics), but also made many people follow the figure more closely.
Photo: Maria Plotnikova, “Championship”
Evgenia Medvedeva
Dominance on the world stage and then a dramatic Olympic season – during this time Zhenya managed to attract many fans to the figure. The emotional reaction after the screening of “Anna Karenina” in the final of the individual Olympic tournament, the noisy departure of Eteri Tutberidze, the move to Canada, the reunion in a new place… Together with Zhenya, many fans discovered a whole sport for themselves.
Photo: Alexander Safonov, “Championship”
Alexandra Trusova
Russian Rocket, the girl who opened a window to the world of quadruple jumps, Sasha Trusova, attracted a huge number of figure skating fans. The young figure skater broke records and at the Olympic Games she collected five quadruple jumps in the free program and impressed the whole world.
Photo: Maria Kateshova, “Championship”
Alena Kostornaya
Kostornaya came into her first senior season as a whirlwind with her “Angel,” her daring “Twilight,” and a magnificent triple axel. Experts have been following this athlete since she was a junior and noticed her glide, but Alena captivated the general public as an adult. She beat phenomenal skaters on quads and a few seasons later restarted her career in pairs skating.
Photo: Alexander Safonov, “Championship”
Kamila Valieva
They started talking about Kamila as a future champion even when she was very young. Excellent stretching, participation, expressiveness, ultra-si added elements, the image of the “Girl on the Ball”, which suited her like a glove… In her first senior season, Valieva won by a wide margin, realizing her potential, but in Beijing it all ended in a grand Olympic tragedy. But one cannot deny the fact that a huge number of people approached figure skating, falling in love with Kamila’s skating, her images, her high quadruple sheepskin coat, her plasticity and turns.
Photo by: RIA Novosti
Yulia Lipnitskaya
It seems that the whole of Russia fell in love with the girl in the red coat during the Olympics in Sochi. This was Yulia’s first senior season, and it also became the brightest and most successful in her career. Unrealistically fast spins with bright stretches, meaningful embodiment of images, backed by the team’s Olympic victory at the home Games – after that, a huge number of fans came to figure skating.
Photo: Alexander Safonov, “Championship”
Adelina Sotnikova
Adelina’s story at the 2014 Olympics is a story of overcoming a time when no one believes in you. Russia at that time had another heroine – Yulia Lipnitskaya, but Sotnikova was not accepted into the team tournament and had a chance to win gold at the Games. Sotnikova took longer to get to the Olympics – she was already 17 years old, she was already well-known among figure skating fans, and the general public remembered and fell in love with Adeline the very moment the figure skater realized the opportunity she had.
Photo: Vladimir Rys/Getty Images
Tatiana Navka/Roman Kostomarov
The legendary victory of Navka and Kostomarov at the Turin Olympics will forever go down in history, and the dance “Carmen” performed by Tatyana and Roman can still be remembered to this day. Both partners of this couple are charismatic, but at the same time they got along well. After the 2006 Olympics, many not only began to watch figure skating, but also actively took their children to the sections.
Photo: Clive Rose/Getty Images
Tatyana Totmyanina/Maxim Marinin
Totmyanina and Marinin are a great Russian couple who have won all the major competitions. They had to get used to each other and together they formed a strong tandem that was hard to stop. Their Olympic gold became so iconic and important because it turned out to be won practically with a lot of effort. In 2004, the couple suffered a terrible fall while skating and the couple worked with a psychologist to start again confidently performing the element on which the failure occurred.
Photo: Alexander Safonov, “Championship”
Evgeni Plushenko
The bulge of world figure skating, need I say anything else? Plushenko was and remains a brilliant, charismatic, impeccable technician with a winning mentality. Fans called him and called him the Tsar, his programs became a cult and many active skaters call him their idol.
Photo: Henri Szwarc/Getty Images
Alexey Yagudin
The most memorable rink in figure skating, which many still repeat, is the very rink from Alexei Yagudin’s “Winter”. The career of this skater had many dramatic turns: victories, defeats, transition to another coach… And, most importantly, legendary skates, thanks to which one could fall in love with figure skating completely and irrevocably.
Photo: Clive Rose/Getty Images
Irina Slutskaya
Irina Slutskaya won seven European Championships. Can it be imagined that a skater would have such a long dominance in the current women’s singles championship? But the loss of the Olympic gold by a judge’s vote was the event that brought fans together around Irina. Many later fell in love with figure skating and continued to follow Slutskaya, because she remained for another Olympic cycle and had a brilliant 2004/2005 season, winning all the competitions.
Photo: Henri Szwarc/Getty Images
Elena Berezhnaya/Anton Sikharulidze
The very story of how Elena and Anton came to perform as a couple is worthy of a movie: after a serious injury and Berezhnaya’s operation, Sikharulidze supported her when she learned to walk again. As a couple, they had a special unity between them, which the audience couldn’t help but feel. And with this came victories, iconic programs (the same “Chaplin” – an all-time production) and Olympic gold in Salt Lake, shared with a couple from Canada.
Photo: Bill Frakes/Getty Images
Ekaterina Gordeeva/Sergey Grinkov
A model couple, an inspirational couple, a couple that is admired to this day. The story of Ekaterina and Sergei is a story of great victories, brilliant programs and sincere love that they experienced on the ice. With this, Gordeeva/Grinkov expanded the audience of figure skating, both here and abroad. The fairy tale ended tragically: a heart attack cut short Sergei’s life… But the duo remained one of the most iconic in the history of the sport.
Photo: Maria Plotnikova, “Championship”
Alina Zagitova
The figure skater with the Golden Helmet, who won everything, had many outstanding performances. There were world records and performances that could not leave anyone indifferent. This includes “Don Quixote” at the Olympics, where Alina mastered the signature Lutz-Rittberger cascade, redoing it in time, and surpassing herself at the World Championships with the flawless “Carmen” – in the difficult post-Olympic season, when Zagitova had already begun to grow.
