Anna Shcherbakova

Anna Stanislavovna Shcherbakova ( rus, Анна Станиславовна Щербакова, , ˈanːə ɕːɪrbɐˈkovə, born 28 March 2004) is a Russian figure skater. She is the 2022 Olympic champion, the 2021 World champion, a two-time European silver medalist (2020 and 2022), the 2019 Grand Prix Final silver medalist, the 2019 Skate America champion, the 2019 Cup of China champion, the 2021 Internationaux de France champion, the 2021 Gran Premio d'Italia champion, the 2019 CS Lombardia Trophy champion, and a three-time Russian national champion (2019–21). In her senior career, she has finished on the podium in every single competition she has entered.

At the junior level, Shcherbakova is the 2019 World Junior silver medalist, 2018 JGP Slovakia champion, 2018 JGP Canada champion, 2019 European Youth Olympic Winter Festival champion, and 2019 Russian junior national bronze medalist.

Shcherbakova currently has the third highest free skating score of any female skater, with 175.75 points, behind only compatriots Kamila Valieva and Alexandra Trusova. She was the first senior woman to land a quad Lutz (the first woman to land it is training mate Alexandra Trusova) and the first woman to land two quad Lutz jumps in a single program. Shcherbakova is also one of the few female skaters to have landed a quad flip, both internationally and domestically. She is the first woman to land a quad flip in combination with a triple toe.

Personal life

Shcherbakova was born in Moscow on 28 March 2004 to parents Stanislav and Julia. She has an older sister, Inna, and a younger sister, Yana. In 2007, at age three, Shcherbakova began learning to skate under Oksana Bulycheva at the Khrustalnyi rink of the Olympic Reserve Sports School No. 37 (later renamed "Sambo 70") in Moscow. Shcherbakova expressed interest in going to university to study Physical Education after graduating from high school.

In an interview on Russian television following the 2021 World Championships, Shcherbakova stated her admiration of Nathan Chen's figure skating technique after he surprised her with a cake on her 17th birthday during the closing program of the championships.

Career

Early career

Shcherbakova parted ways with Oksana Bulycheva in 2013 and began training in the most advanced group at the same rink, led by Eteri Tutberidze and Sergei Dudakov.

Shcherbakova won gold at the 2016 Russian Youth Championships – Younger Age. She missed the 2017 Russian Junior Championships, held in February, after breaking her arm. Returning to competition, she won the silver medal at the 2017 Russian Youth Championships – Younger Age in March.

2017–2018 season

In the summer of 2017, Shcherbakova broke her leg while performing a triple loop in combination at a training camp. As a result, she missed most of the 2017–18 season, including her planned Junior Grand Prix debut. She placed thirteenth at the 2018 Russian Junior Championships.

2018–2019 season

Shcherbakova debuted internationally on the Junior Grand Prix circuit in August. She was assigned to events in Slovakia and Canada. At JGP Slovakia, she placed first in both the short program and free skate, winning the gold medal by a margin of over 18 points over the silver medalist and fellow Russian competitor Anna Tarusina. Shcherbakova's scores at the competition were among the highest achieved in an international junior ladies competition, after teammate Alexandra Trusova in the short program, and Trusova and teammate Alena Kostornaia in the free skate.

At JGP Canada, Shcherbakova again placed first in both the short program and free skate and won the gold medal by a margin of five points over the silver medalist, former teammate Anastasia Tarakanova. With two gold medals on the Junior Grand Prix, she qualified for the 2018–19 Junior Grand Prix Final. At the final, Shcherbakova placed last in the short program after falling on her attempted double Axel and stepping out of a triple Lutz, missing the planned combination. In the free skate, she fell on both quad attempts, placing fifth in the segment and overall. Speaking to the media afterward, Shcherbakova said she "really wanted to land my quad Lutzes" but "couldn't do them cleanly ... so I'll try to do it next time".

At the 2019 Russian Championships, Shcherbakova placed fifth in the short program and first in the free skate, winning the national title over Trusova by 0.07 points. Shcherbakova expressed surprise at the victory, noting that it was "very unexpected for me to win and I still haven't realized what just happened".

In December, Shcherbakova competed at the 2019 Russian Junior National Championships, where she was expected to vie for the title again with her teammates Trusova and Kostornaia. After placing second in the short program and third in the free skate, Shcherbakova won the bronze medal behind Trusova and Kostornaia. In the free program, Shcherbakova attempted a quad Lutz jump but fell.

In March, Shcherbakova was selected by the Russian Figure Skating Federation to compete at the 2019 Junior World Championships in Zagreb, Croatia, alongside Trusova and Ksenia Sinitsyna. She placed first in short program after receiving a score of 72.86. In the free skate, she landed her quad Lutz jump with a minor error in landing position, receiving a negative grade of execution. Her score of 147.08 was the highest she had ever attained at an international competition but was not enough to overtake Trusova, who had landed two quad jumps in the free program. Shcherbakova won the silver medal.

2019–2020 season

In September, Shcherbakova entered her first international senior competition in Italy at the ISU Challenger Series event, the 2019 Lombardia Trophy. After the short program, she was in third place behind Elizaveta Tuktamysheva and You Young. Her free program saw her become the first senior woman to land a quad Lutz in senior competition, ensuring the gold medal in her senior debut.

Shcherbakova made her ISU Grand Prix debut at the 2019 Skate America, where she won the gold medal after placing fourth in the short program and first in the free skate. At the competition she became the first woman to land two quadruple Lutz jumps in the free skate in international competition and the first woman to land a quadruple Lutz-triple jump combination in international competition. In the free skate, she became the second lady after Trusova to achieve a score above 160 points under the current GOE system when she scored her personal best score of 160.16 points, only three points short of Trusova's world record. Shcherbakova also set new records for the highest valued single jump, earning 14.79 points for her quadruple Lutz, and for the highest valued jump combinations, when she earned 18.66 points for her quad Lutz-triple toe loop combination. Shcherbakova also won her second event, the 2019 Cup of China, albeit by a smaller margin.

Shcherbakova's results qualified her for the Grand Prix Final in Torino, where she placed third in the short program. In the free skate, she landed two quad Lutzes (one deemed underrotated) and attempted for the first time, but fell on, the quad flip. She nevertheless placed first in the free skate and won the silver medal behind Kostornaia.

At the 2020 Russian Championships, Shcherbakova skated cleanly to place second in the short program behind Kostornaia, who was ten points ahead going into the free skate. Shcherbakova won the free skate, landing two quad Lutzes and the quad flip for the first time, and won her second national title by just under two points overall. She also outscored senior men's champion Dmitri Aliev, despite ladies' components scoring value being only four-fifths of that of men.

Shcherbakova competed at the 2020 European Championships, delivering a clean short program skate to place second. In the free skate, Shcherbakova landed the quad Lutz-triple toe loop combination to start, followed by a quad flip. However, she fell on the second planned quad Lutz. Despite the fall, she placed first in the free skate and settled for a silver medal behind Kostornaia. Together with Kostornaia and Trusova, who took the bronze, the trio made for an all-Russian podium in the ladies' singles event. They were assigned to compete at the World Championships in Montreal, which were later cancelled due to the COVID-19 pandemic. Subsequent coaching changes by Trusova and Kostornaia resulted in Shcherbakova briefly being the only one of the trio still training at the Sambo 70 rink under Tutberidze until Kostornaia returned in March 2021.

2020–2021 season: World champion

Shcherbakova debuted both of her programs at the Russian senior test skates, overcoming a difficult practice session to deliver a free skate with only one fall on her quad Lutz attempt, which she called "a good starting point". In August, it was announced that Shcherbakova would compete in the first and third stages of the 2020–21 Russian Cup series. She won the first stage in Syzran with a score of 246.40 and the third stage in Sochi with 239.91 points.

She was assigned, as with other prominent Russian skaters, to the 2020 Rostelecom Cup after the ISU decided to base the Grand Prix primarily on geographic location. However, she withdrew on the day of the event due to illness, later revealed to be pneumonia.

After recovering from pneumonia, Shcherbakova had somewhat limited ability to train in advance of the 2021 Russian Championships. She won the short program with a score of 80.31, ahead of fellow Sambo 70 skater Kamila Valieva. In the free skate, she landed both a quad Lutz and quad flip and won the segment with a score of 183.79, with Valieva as the silver medalist and Trusova taking the bronze medal. Shcherbakova became the first woman to win three consecutive Russian titles since Irina Slutskaya from 1999 to 2001. Shcherbakova was assigned to the Russian team for the 2021 World Championships in Stockholm.

Prior to the World Championships, Shcherbakova participated in the televised 2021 Channel One Trophy as part of the Red Machine team captained by Alina Zagitova. She placed second in both segments of the competition, and the Red Machine won the trophy. She opted not to participate in the Russian Cup Final.

Heading into the World Championships, Shcherbakova was considered one of the frontrunners for the World title alongside Trusova and Rika Kihira of Japan. In the short program, Shcherbakova skated a personal best for the ladies short program, scoring 81.00 to place first ahead of Kihira. She then placed second in the free program with a score of 152.17 points in spite of falling during the execution of one of her quad jumps, within one point of Trusova's 152.38 points. Shcherbakova then won the competition on combined totals to become the world champion. Shcherbakova, Elizaveta Tuktamysheva and Trusova's podium placements made this only the second time, after the United States in 1991, that a single country had swept the ladies' podium at the World Championships. Shcherbakova and silver medalist Tuktamysheva's podium placements qualified three berths for Russian ladies at the 2022 Winter Olympics in Beijing.

Shcherbakova competed as part of the Russian team for the 2021 World Team Trophy in April, winning the short program on the opening day within one point ahead of Russian teammate Elizaveta Tuktamysheva. Shcherbakova finished in first place and won a gold medal with Russia.

2021–2022 season: Olympic champion

Shcherbakova debuted her Olympic season programs at the 2021 Russian test skate event in September and later opened her competitive season in October at the 2021 Budapest Trophy. At the Budapest Trophy, Shcherbakova led after the short program, but was later overtaken in the free skate by training-mate Maiia Khromykh after falling on her opening quad flip and receiving a number of edge and quarter calls. She placed second in the free skate to finish narrowly behind Khromykh and take the silver medal overall.

Shcherbakova's first Grand Prix assignment was initially the 2021 Cup of China, but following its cancellation she was reassigned to the 2021 Gran Premio d'Italia in Turin. After an error on her jump combination in the short program, she placed third in that segment behind Belgium's Loena Hendrickx and Khromykh. She came back in the free skate to win both that segment and the gold medal. She successfully landed a quad flip in the free skate and said afterward that demonstrating its return had been her main goal going into the event. Shcherbakova went on to win her second event, the 2021 Internationaux de France, defeating Kostornaia by almost eight points. She fell on her attempted quad Lutz in the free skate, but landed the quad flip. Her results qualified her to the Grand Prix Final, which was subsequently cancelled due to restrictions prompted by the Omicron variant.

At the 2022 Russian Championships, Shcherbakova placed second in the short program behind Valieva. She fell on her only quad attempt in the free skate, placing fourth in that segment, but took the bronze medal overall behind Valieva and Trusova. Assigned to the 2022 European Championships in Tallinn, Shcherbakova placed fourth in the short program after falling on her triple Lutz and failing to execute a jump combination. Mounting a comeback in the free skate with a quad flip and seven triple jumps, she placed second in the segment and took the silver medal. On January 20, she was officially named to the Russian Olympic team. Making her debut at the 2022 Winter Olympics in the women's event, she skated cleanly and placed second in the short program with a score of 80.20, 1.94 points behind segment leader Valieva and 0.36 points ahead of third-place Kaori Sakamoto. In the free skate, Shcherbakova skated cleanly once again, scoring a 175.75, 1.38 points behind segment leader Trusova, but putting Shcherbakova in the lead overall before the last skater, Valieva. After gold medal favourite Valieva failed to deliver a clean free skate, Shcherbakova won the event with an overall score of 255.95. During an interviews at the Olympics, Shcherbakova indicated her intention to compete at the ISU World Championships in March.

In early March 2022, the ISU banned all figure skaters and officials from Russia and Belarus from attending the World Championships due to the Russian invasion of Ukraine, therefore Shcherbakova was not allowed to participate and defend her title. Instead, Russia organized the Channel One Trophy to occur during the World Championships. Shcherbakova was named the captain of the Red Machine team. The first day of the competition was a jumping competition, and Shcherbakova led her team to victory. In the short program, she scored 82.90 and placed second behind Kamila Valieva. Then in the free skate, she scored 176.12 and finished first overall, and the Red Machine team won the competition.

Skating technique

Shcherbakova's skating has been distinguished by her high consistency in the performance of her skating programs, and she is the third woman since Irina Slutskaya and Adelina Sotnikova to win three Russian national titles. Her performances and technique are also highlighted by her ability to consistently land quad jumps—specifically, the quad Lutz and quad flip—as part of the Tutberidze skating team. Shcherbakova's quad jumping ability is often compared to those of her teammates Kamila Valieva and Alexandra Trusova. Olympic gold medalist Tara Lipinski complimented Shcherbakova's skating, praising "her incredible consistency and tenacity she's shown throughout this season" leading up to the 2021 World Championships. However, Shcherbakova's consistency appeared to have wavered slightly in the beginning of 2022 with falls in some of her combination jumps and her quads at the 2022 Russian Championships and the 2022 European Championships. During the Beijing Olympics she executed two quad jumps consistently in her free skate performance.

Endorsements

Since March 2020, Shcherbakova has endorsed Nike. She has featured in several video advertisements for their "Break It Down" campaign, speaking English and promoting exercise techniques in the brand's sportswear.

Shcherbakova is a brand ambassador for the futuristic Chinese car “OMODA 5”, a seemingly futuristic car set to arrive in Russia soon. It is seemingly a very small car brand with an Instagram following of only 935. Shcherbakova has been an ambassador since May of 2022.
Shcherbakova presently uses white Risport Royal Elite Artistic skating boots with silver blades in competition.On-line Skating. "Testing the Risport Royal Elite Artistic Skating Boots." Listing of 2-9-2020

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Records and achievements

* Set the junior-level ladies' record of the new +5 / -5 GOE (Grade of Execution) system for the List of highest junior scores in figure skating#Total score 2, combined total (205.39 points), short program (73.18 points) and free program (132.21 points) at the 2018 JGP Slovakia. Her free program record was broken by Russian teammate Alena Kostornaia at the 2018 JGP Austria on 1 September 2018 with 132.42 points. Her short program record was broken by Russian teammate Alexandra Trusova at the 2018 JGP Lithuania on 6 September 2018 with 74.74 points.
* Landed a ratified quadruple Lutz in her first senior international competition at the 2019 CS Lombardia Trophy. Shcherbakova is the first senior lady to land a quadruple Lutz, and the second overall senior lady to land a quadruple jump, after training mate Elizabet Tursynbaeva of Kazakhstan. She is also the second overall lady to land a quadruple lutz, with the first one being landed by training mate, Alexandra Trusova.
* Set the new record for the highest valued single jump when she earned 14.03 points for her quadruple Lutz at the 2019 CS Lombardia Trophy. This was later broken by Alexandra Trusova at the 2019 CS Nepela Memorial who landed a quad lutz and earned 14.72 points.
* Became the first lady to land two quad Lutz jumps in one program in ISU sanctioned international competition at the 2019 Skate America. At this competition she also became the first lady to land quad Lutz and a triple jump combination in international competition.
* Became the second lady behind Alexandra Trusova to score above 160 points in free skating under the current GOE system at the 2019 Skate America.
* Set the new record for the highest valued single jump when she earned 14.79 points for her quadruple Lutz at the 2019 Skate America. At this competition she also set the new record for the highest valued jump combination when she earned 18.66 points for her 4Lz+3T combination. This was later broken by Alexandra Trusova when she earned 14.95 points for her quadruple Lutz at the 2019 Rostelecom Cup.
* Broke her own record for the highest valued jump combination when she earned 19.31 points for her 4Lz+3T combination at the 2020 European Championships. The combination jump record was later broken by Alexandra Trusova who earned 19.48 points for her 4Lz+3T combination at the 2021 World Championships.
* Became the first woman to land two quad Flip jumps in one program in ISU sanctioned international competition at the 2022 Winter Olympics. At this competition she also became the first woman to land a quad Flip in combination with a triple Toe in international competition.
* Became the third woman behind Kamila Valieva and Alexandra Trusova to score above 170 points in free skating under the current GOE system at the 2022 Winter Olympics.

Programs

Competitive highlights

''GP: Grand Prix; CS: Challenger Series; JGP: Junior Grand Prix''

Detailed results

Senior level

''Small medals for short and free programs awarded only at ISU Championships. Personal bests highlighted in'' bold.

Junior level

''Small medals for short and free programs awarded only at ISU Championships. Previous ISU world best highlighted in'' bold.

References

External links

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! colspan="3" style="border-top: 5px solid #78FF78;" , World Record Holders

! colspan="3" style="border-top: 5px solid #78FF78;" , World Junior Record Holders

{{DEFAULTSORT:Shcherbakova, Anna
2004 births
Living people
Russian female single skaters
World Figure Skating Championships medalists
World Junior Figure Skating Championships medalists
European Figure Skating Championships medalists
Figure skaters from Moscow
Figure skaters at the 2022 Winter Olympics
Olympic figure skaters of Russia
Medalists at the 2022 Winter Olympics
Olympic medalists in figure skating
Olympic gold medalists for the Russian Olympic Committee athletes