Alina Zagitova

Profile Overview

Alina Ilnazovna Zagitova (Russian: Алина Ильназовна Загитова, IPA: [ɐˈlʲinə zɐˈɡʲitəvə]; born 18 May 2002) is a Russian former competitive figure skater. She is the 2018 Olympic champion, the 2019 World champion, the 2018 European champion, 2017–18 Grand Prix Final champion, and the 2018 Russian national champion. She also won a silver medal in the team event at the 2018 Winter Olympics. Earlier in her career, she won gold at the 2017 World Junior Championships and at the 2016–17 Junior Grand Prix Final.
Having won all major International Skating Union (ISU) Championship titles at the junior and senior levels, Zagitova is the youngest and second women's singles skater, after Yuna Kim, to have completed a Super Slam. She is the second-youngest Olympic champion in women's single skating, behind Tara Lipinski. She holds the historical world record score in the women's short program. She was known for back-loading her programs, meaning she performed all jumps in the second half to receive a bonus on the jump's base value. This led to the ISU implementing a rule limiting the number of jumps that could receive the base value bonus, unofficially known as the "Zagitova rule".
During the 2019–20 season, Zagitova announced she would be taking a break from competitive figure skating, and as of 2025, has not returned to competition. Since then, she has co-hosted multiple seasons of the Channel One Russia show Ice Age and has done commentary and interviews at Russian figure skating competitions.