Figure Skater #1: 10 Facts You Didn't Know About Champion Anna Shcherbakova

Russian figure skater Anna Shcherbakova became the winner of the individual figure skating championship among singles at the Beijing Olympics. The figure skater performed a quadruple flip and a cascade of a quadruple flip-triple toe loop. Russian figure skater Anna Shcherbakova won gold in the women's singles tournament at the 2022 Olympic Games in Beijing. For her performance of a free program with two quadruple flips with minimal errors, she received 175.75 points, in total - 255.95. The second was Alexandra Trusova (251.73), who made five quadruple jumps in a free program (quadruple flip, quadruple salchow, quadruple toe loop, quadruple lutz - triple toe loop, quadruple lutz). Kamila Valieva showed the fourth result (224.09), having fallen several times in the free program.

The victory at the 2021 Russian Championship made Anna Shcherbakova the youngest three-time champion of the country: she received her third gold medal at the age of 16. Anna Shcherbakova figure skater Photo: Instagram

It is curious that the girl never dreamed of becoming a figure skater. She came to the ice for company with her older sister. And away we go. Along with figure skating, Shcherbakova Jr. was fond of both tennis and swimming. However, over time, she had to devote more and more time to figure skating, which gradually replaced all other activities.

Parents, who, by the way, have nothing to do with sports, gave their daughter to the ice for health, but when Anya got into the Tutberidze group, they realized that figure skating had become a matter of life for the heiress.

We have collected 10 facts and prepared a complete biography of Anna Shcherbakova.

10 facts about Anna Shcherbakova

1. Anna Shcherbakova has two sisters: the elder Inna and the younger Yana.

2.In figure skating, the parents gave the future champion of Russia for the company - since her older sister was already involved in it.

3.Prize-winning skaters are put aside by her parents for the future, saying that they want not only to keep them, but also to increase them. They collect the portfolio of a novice “investor” according to all the rules: they put part of the money into a bank account, some is transferred into foreign currency, and some is invested in shares. According to Anna's father, despite her young age, she takes this issue very seriously and ultimately decides for herself how much and where she is ready to invest.

4.According to relatives, outwardly Anna is very similar to her grandmother in her youth.

5.Anna Shcherbakova received one of the most memorable souvenir gifts from Japan. Local fans sent her a teddy bear-napkin holder, which became a kind of talisman for the skater.

6.Shcherbakova did not succeed in triple jumps for a long time. She was able to jump a triple sheepskin coat only a year after she began training with Tutberidze. But after that, everything “went”: a few days later, flip and lutz submitted to her, a little later, salchow and rittberger.

7.Anna Shcherbakova became the first figure skater to perform two quadruple lutz in one program (and one in a combination with a triple toe loop). Before her, only the American figure skater Nathan Chen managed to do this.

8.Among the skaters who especially inspire her, Anna mentions the three-time world champion and winner of the silver medal of the 2010 Olympics, Japanese Mao Asada, who ended her career in 2017.

9.Anna's family has several four-legged pets - the dog Sandy, the mongrel they adopted from the shelter, the Maine Coon Shiny and the cat Mafia, picked up on the street. The last athlete often shows on her Instagram blog.

10.Of her colleagues, Anna is friends with the 2016 Youth Olympic Games champion Polina Tsurskaya, who was also a pupil of Eteri Tutberidze, left the sport in 2019, and returned to the Tutberidze group in the summer of 2020 - already as a coach.