Russian female figure skaters have consistently dominated the world stage, earning numerous titles and pushing the boundaries of the sport. This article highlights some of the most famous Russian female figure skaters who have achieved world champion status and left an indelible mark on the sport.
2018 World Junior Championships podium.
Alexandra Trusova
Alexandra "Sasha" Vyacheslavovna Ignatova (née Trusova) was born on June 23, 2004, in Ryazan. She is a Russian figure skater known for her groundbreaking technical achievements. She is the 2022 Russian national champion, the 2021 Skate America champion, the 2019 silver medalist, and the 2020 and 2021 bronze medalist at the Russian National Championships.
Trusova is credited for leading the ladies figure skating technical revolution and being the new face of women's figure skating. She currently has the second highest free skating score of any female skater, with 177.13.
She has two younger brothers, Egor and Ivan. Trusova is a passionate dog lover and owns seven dogs: a chihuahua named Tina, a husky named Jack, a miniature royal poodle named Lana, a basenji named Alita, a second miniature poodle named Cruella (nicknamed Ella), a Bichon Frisé named Selma, and a toy poodle named Smoke.
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In late 2023, she began a relationship with fellow Russian figure skater Makar Ignatov. On March 22, 2025, the couple publicly announced via Instagram that they were expecting their first child.
Trusova debuted internationally in August 2017 at a 2017-18 ISU Junior Grand Prix (JGP) competition in Brisbane, Australia. She landed an underrotated quadruple Salchow in her free program. At the 2017-18 Junior Grand Prix Final, Trusova scored 73.25 points, breaking the junior women's world record for the short program.
In January 2018, Trusova won the gold medal at the 2018 Russian Junior Championships after placing first in the short program and third in the free skate. In March 2018, Trusova competed at the 2018 Junior Worlds, where she won the gold medal after placing first in both the short program and free skate. At the competition, Trusova became the first female skater to land the quad toe loop, the second to land the quad Salchow behind Miki Ando, and the first to land two ratified quads in a free skate.
At her first Junior Grand Prix event of the season, she won the gold medal in Kaunas, Lithuania. There, Trusova became the first female skater to land a quad in combination-a quad toe loop and triple toe loop that received 16.14 points. At her second Junior Grand Prix event of the season, she won another gold medal in Yerevan, Armenia. At the JGP Final, she won the silver medal after placing second in both the short program and free skate.
Trusova made her international senior debut at the 2019 CS Ondrej Nepela Memorial, where she won the gold medal and set several new world records. In the free skate, she became the first woman ever to land three quadruple jumps when she landed a quad Lutz and two quad toe loops, the second of which was in combination. She set a new free skate record of 163.78 points and a new combined total record of 238.69 points. Her technical element score (TES) of 98.34 points in the free skate was also the new world record.
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Trusova made her ISU Grand Prix debut at the 2019 Skate Canada International, where she won the gold medal after placing third in the short program and first in the free skate. At the same competition, she set the new free skating record of 166.62 points and a new combined total record of 241.02 points.
At the 2020 Russian Championships, Trusova placed third in the short program, opting not to attempt the triple Axel. Competing at the 2020 European Championships, Trusova doubled and turned out of a planned triple Axel. On May 6, 2020, it was announced that Trusova had decided to part ways with coach Eteri Tutberidze in favor of joining Evgeni Plushenko's academy.
She landed two quad Lutzes in the free skate, placing third in the segment and winning the bronze medal. Trusova was selected to compete for the Russian Federation at the 2021 World Championships in March 2021 in Stockholm, where she was considered a favorite to make the podium. In her free skate, she attempted five quads, falling on two of them; however, due to the high base value of her program, mistakes by other medal contenders, and her successful landing of three of her quads, Trusova was able to finish third overall for the bronze medal.
She debuted her programs for the Olympic season at the 2021 Russian Test skates in September held in Chelyabinsk, where she cleanly executed a five-quad free program for the first time in a public event. Classic at the Skating Club of Boston, where she made mistakes on four out of five planned quads but narrowly took the gold medal over South Korean skater Park Yeon-jeong.
Returning to competition at the 2022 Russian Championships, Trusova placed fifth in the short program after botching her triple Axel attempt. On 13 January 2023, Valieva was stripped of her gold medal for doping and Trusova was elevated to gold. At the European Championships in Tallinn, Trusova placed third in the short program despite falling on her triple Axel attempt again. Competing in the women's event short program at the 2022 Winter Olympics, Trusova fell on an underrotated triple Axel attempt and received an edge call on her triple flip but still placed fourth in the segment.
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In the free program, Trusova landed all five of the quads planned in her program, albeit receiving an edge call on her quad flip and negative grade of execution on her quad toe-loop and final solo quad Lutz. She placed first in the segment, setting Olympic scoring records of 106.16 for the technical component and 177.13 overall. However, she placed second overall behind teammate Shcherbakova, winning a silver medal in the event.
As Russia remained banned from international competition during the 2022-2023 season, Trusova opted to compete on the Russian Grand Prix series. Ignatova debuted two new programs at the 2024 Russian Test Skates, both of which were choreographed by Nikita Mikhailov.
Anna Shcherbakova
Anna Stanislavovna Shcherbakova was born on March 28, 2004. She is a Russian figure skater and the 2022 Olympic champion, the 2021 World champion, and a three-time Russian national champion (2019-2021).
Shcherbakova was the first female figure skater to land a quad Lutz in senior competition and the first woman to land two quad Lutz jumps in a single program. She was also the first to land a quad flip in combination with a triple jump, as well as the first to land two quad flips in one program.
She began skating at age three in 2007 with her first coach Oksana Bulycheva at the Khrustalnyi rink in Moscow. In mid-July 2017, when she was 13, Shcherbakova broke her leg while performing a triple loop at a training camp. As a result of the accident she missed most of the 2017-18 season, including her planned Junior Grand Prix debut.
In September, Shcherbakova entered her first international senior competition in Italy at the ISU Challenger Series event, the 2019 Lombardia Trophy. In the free program, she became 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 an international competition and the first woman to land a quadruple Lutz-triple jump combination in an international competition.
At the Grand Prix Final, Shcherbakova placed third in the short program behind teammates Alena Kostornaia and Alina Zagitova. In the free skate, she landed two quad Lutz 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.
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 quad Lutz.
She won both the short program and the free skate and successfully landed both a quad Lutz and quad flip. She won the national title with a total score of 264.10, ahead of Kamila Valieva and Alexandra Trusova. Her free skate was praised by the Russian press as the best female performance of all time.
Shcherbakova was assigned to the Russian team for the 2021 World Championships in Stockholm. In the short program at the World Championships, Shcherbakova skated a personal best in the short program, scoring 81.00 to place first ahead of Rika Kihira. She then placed second in the free program with a score of 152.17 points despite falling on one of her quad jumps. Overall, Shcherbakova won the competition with a total score of 233.17 and became the World champion.
Shcherbakova began her Olympic season in October at the 2021 Budapest Trophy. She 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. On 20 January, Shcherbakova was officially named to the Russian Olympic team.
In the short program of 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 175.75 and a total score of 255.95. Shcherbakova won the gold medal and became the Olympic champion ahead of teammate Trusova and Japan's Kaori Sakamoto.
In early March 2022, the ISU banned all figure skaters and officials from Russia and Belarus from attending the World Championships due to Russian invasion of Ukraine in late February; therefore, Shcherbakova was not allowed to participate and defend her title. In August 2022, Shcherbakova traveled to Germany in order to have knee surgery for an old injury.
Alongside teammate Trusova, Shcherbakova is credited for ushering in the era of quad jumps in competitive women's figure skating, especially domestically. Prior to Shcherbakova's senior domestic debut, not a single quad jump was landed by any of the woman skaters at the Russian Figure Skating Championships.
Achievements and Records
The following table summarizes some of the notable achievements and records held by Alexandra Trusova and Anna Shcherbakova:
| Skater | Achievement |
|---|---|
| Alexandra Trusova | First female skater to land quad Lutz, quad flip, and quad toe loop jumps |
| Alexandra Trusova | First woman to land a quad at the Olympic Winter Games |
| Alexandra Trusova | First woman to land four and five quads in a free skate |
| Anna Shcherbakova | First female figure skater to land a quad Lutz in senior competition |
| Anna Shcherbakova | First woman to land two quad Lutz jumps in a single program |
| Anna Shcherbakova | 2022 Olympic Champion |
| Anna Shcherbakova | 2021 World Champion |
Anna Shcherbakova at the 2021 World Figure Skating Championships.