Maria Smirnova (born 13 October 1995) is a retired Russian-born artistic gymnast who competed internationally for Azerbaijan. She competed at the

2014 File:2014 Events Collage.png, From top left, clockwise: Stocking up supplies and personal protective equipment (PPE) for the Western African Ebola virus epidemic; Citizens examining the ruins after the Chibok schoolgirls kidnapping; Bundles of wat ...

and 2015 World Championships

Career

Smirnova finished fifteenth in the all-around at the 2010 Russian Cup. She finished twenty-first in the all-around and fifth on vault at the 2012 Russian Championships. At the 2013 Russian Championships, Smirnova competed for the

Volga Federal District Volga (Privolzhsky) Federal District (russian: Приво́лжский федера́льный о́круг, ''Privolzhsky federalny okrug'') is one of the eight federal districts of Russia. It forms the southeastern part of European Russia. ...

, and they won the team bronze medal, and she finished fifteenth in the all-around final. She also finished sixth in the vault final and seventh in the floor exercise final. In 2014, Smirnova switched from Russia to competing for Azerbaijan along with

Anna Pavlova Anna Pavlovna Pavlova ( , rus, Анна Павловна Павлова ), born Anna Matveyevna Pavlova ( rus, Анна Матвеевна Павлова; – 23 January 1931), was a Russian prima ballerina of the late 19th and the early 20th ...

, Marina Nekrasova, and

Yulia Inshina Yulia Andreyevna Inshina (russian: Юлия Андреевна Иньшина, born 15 April 1995) is a Russian-born Azerbaijani artistic gymnast. She has been known for her consistent and reliable work, especially on balance beam. A competitor fo ...

, and these gymnasts formed Azerbaijan's first women's artistic gymnastics national team in seventeen years. They competed at the 2014 European Championships where they finished sixteenth in the qualification round. The same team then competed at the World Championships where they finished thirtieth in the qualification round. Smirnova competed at the 2015 European Championships, and she finished fifty-ninth in the all-around during the qualification round. Then at the World Championships, and she finished 102nd in the all-around during the qualification round. At the 2016 Baku World Cup, Smirnova finished sixth in the vault event final. She then competed at the

European Championships The European Championships is a multi-sport tournament which brings together the existing European Championships of some of the continent's leading sports every four years. The inaugural edition in 2018 was staged by the host cities of Berlin, ...

with Yulia Inshina and Marina Nekrasova, and they finished twentieth in the qualification round. Smirnova competed at the 2017 Baku World Cup on vault, but she did not qualify for the event final. She missed the rest of the season due to a leg injury that required surgery. Smirnova competed at the

2018 European Championships The 2018 European Championships were the first edition of the European Championships. It was a multi-sport event which took place in Berlin, Germany, and Glasgow, Scotland, United Kingdom (with Edinburgh hosting the diving events and Gleneagles ...

with Yulia Inshina and Marina Nekrasova, but she injured her knee during the qualification round on the uneven bars and withdrew from the rest of the competition. This was her final competition.

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Smirnova, Maria 1995 births Living people People from Yoshkar-Ola Azerbaijani female artistic gymnasts Russian female artistic gymnasts Azerbaijani people of Russian descent Sportspeople from Mari El