Alina Zagitova is a figure skater who, at the age of fifteen, expands the idea of specialists about the possibilities of women in figure skating. A few years ago, she trained in the provincial Izhevsk without any prospect of breaking into the open spaces of big sports, but after moving to Moscow in the group of Eteri Tutberidze in a fragile little girl she discovered a huge potential, which she now successfully reveals, participating in the largest world tournaments.
Characteristic
According to most experts in figure skating, Alina Zagitova today has the most powerful technical base among all her famous competitors. Low (152 cm), light, it is surprisingly plastic and coordinated, easily performing dizzying jumps, which ten years ago seemed an unattainable top in the female category. Triple Lutz, Triple Rittberger - she mastered these ultra-si elements at the age of fourteen, and every month she improves her skills.
However, due to her tender age, the skater Alina Zagitova is subject to certain weaknesses inherent in young athletes. According to many experts, her style is still typical teenage skating, the girl lacks choreography, plastic, femininity, often her performances are perceived as an alternation of the most complex technical elements, and not a holistic creative composition. Also, stability remains the main problem of Alina, sometimes she lacks emotional restraint in order to always roll back her programs cleanly.
However, the above shortcomings are common growth problems that disappear with age and experience, and many expect the skater to move to a qualitatively different level.
Childhood
Alina Ilnazovna Zagitova was born in 2002 in the city of Izhevsk, in Udmurtia. The girl’s mother dreamed about dancing on ice all her life, but she did not become a professional athlete, transferring her dreams to her little daughter.
It has already become commonplace that world-class skaters get on the ice almost before they learn to walk, coaches begin to work with children who are barely three years old. However, for Alina Zagitova figure skating for several years was an ordinary entertainment. She first came to the rink at the age of five, dropped out of classes several times, and only at the age of seven began to train seriously.
The first school of sportsmanship for Alina was Izhevsk Youth School. Here she studied under the guidance of coach Natalya Alekseevna Antipina.
Moving to Moscow
The turning point in Alina Zagitova’s sports biography was her move to Moscow, where she joined Eteri Tutberidze’s pupils. This story was accompanied by a whole chain of dramatic events.
Alina came to the capital of the country to participate in children's competitions, but she did not perform very well. A few hours before the train left for her native Izhevsk, she was able to persuade her mother to go to a meeting with Eteri Tutberidze to try to get into her group. After a short rental, Alina Eteri Georgievna was not able to make a definite impression about the possibilities of the girl and scheduled her to watch in January next year.
Everything went well, and the young skater Alina Zagitova began to train in the Tutberidze group. However, she soon expelled a native of Izhevsk. As a stern mentor herself later said, Alina at that moment still did not understand her training systems and could not cope with the tasks. Moving away from disappointment, Zagitova decided on a group for Anna Tsareva.
Double fracture
To all the troubles that fell on her, Alina broke her foot, participating in the sports day. A couple of weeks she was treated in her hometown, and then returned to the ice. The injury was not in vain, according to the girl, she had to learn to re-learn to stand on skates, to revive muscle memory in order to return to her previous state.
In this mood, Alina already said goodbye to the idea of becoming a great skater and, having bought flowers, went to Eteri Georgivna to say goodbye before leaving for Izhevsk. To her joy and surprise, the mentor who drove her unexpectedly offered her to try again to practice in her group.
Alina's partners were Julia Lipnitskaya, Evgenia Medvedeva. Being in the conditions of fierce competition, she reached for older friends to catch up with them, and soon the first results came.
First tournaments
In January 2016, the skater Alina Zagitova was published, taking part in her first championship of Russia among juniors. The girl impressed the judges with her complex program, which included elements from adult skating. However, Alina made many mistakes and ended up in the sum of two programs at the end of the top ten.
The season 2016/2017, the girl began with a victory at the stage of the junior Grand Prix in France. Gaining 194 points, she was 16 points ahead of her closest rival, which surprised many experts. A special delight was caused by her hopping program, which consisted of a triple lutz and a rittberger - elements of the ultra-si level.
During the pre-season preparation, she did serious work on the bugs and ceased to be fatally mistaken during the rental.
At her second stage in Slovenia, Alina Zagitova performed less impressively, taking third place, but this was enough for her to qualify for the Grand Prix finals in Marseille. She arrived in this port city later than her rivals, because she forgot to apply for parental permission to travel abroad. According to Alina, this domestic turmoil motivated her to win, and she confidently beat her strongest competitors.
Transition to another level
The impressive end of the calendar year 2016 for Alina Zagitova, for whom figure skating became a real job, was the adult championship of Russia. She managed to cope with the excitement and perfectly execute her program, and she performed the most complex elements in the second part, which is especially impressive for the judges.
The girl scored 221 points and settled on the podium following Evgenia Medvedeva, who confidently went to the title of the strongest skater on the planet.
After a couple of months, Alina Zagitova confidently won the junior championship of the country, firmly established herself in the status of the main hope of female figure skating. For the rest of the 2016/2017 season, she was gaining momentum by winning the Junior World Cup and several other major tournaments.
Adulthood
The possibilities of Alina Zagitova, whose photo became known to all figure skating fans, allowed her to leave the performances at the junior level and concentrate on adult tournaments. She began by winning the Lombardy Cup, setting a personal record for her points for the amount of short and free programs.
Not so long ago, the girl made her debut at the adult stage of the Grand Prix, held in China. Alina's rivals were the strongest skaters on the planet, among which stood out Tuktamysheva, Radionova, Honda, Daleman.
Here Zagitova again presented her free program “Don Quixote”, which was selected for the athlete’s best qualities. The fast, jump-like rhythm implied a large number of jumping elements, in which Alina is especially strong. A native of Izhevsk was almost flawless and managed to get around her famous rivals.
Given the results shown by Alina, it is not surprising if the coaches give her a chance to speak at the 2018 Winter Olympics.
