Evgenia Medvedeva: A Russian Star On The Ice (Insights)

Evgenia Armanovna Medvedeva was born in Moscow in November 1999. Her mother, Zhanna Medvedeva, is a former figure skater, and her father, Arman Babasyan, an Armenian businessman. She got her surname Medvedeva from her grandmother on the maternal side, and her height is 1.58m (5 ft 2 in). When writing about Evgenia Medvedeva’s personal life, it’s difficult not to include parts of her ice skating experiences and results since ice skating has been the focus of her life. Hence, a huge part of what she is doing and how she lives. According to Evgenia, by the age of 10, her childhood was over. At 10, she became conscious of how serious her ice skating career was regarding how good she could become. After two years of hard work, she officially joined the Russian Ice-skating Team, and a couple of years later, she debuted with a brilliant performance at the Junior Grand Prix in Latvia and officially became a junior skater. The performance in Latvia gave Evgenia the victory with a score of 169.52 points, and she beat her competition, Maria Sotskovа, and an American Karen Shen.

Despite her tight schedule, Evgenia managed to be an excellent student at school. Above all, she loved history and biology. Medvedeva has stated that she has a phobia of butterflies and moths (lepidopterophobia). Her figure skating idols are Yuna Kim (a South Korean female figure skater) and Evgeni Plushenko (a former Russian male figure skater who was a four-time Olympic medalist). Evgenia Medvedeva is known to friends and family as “Zhenya” and “Janny,” and she speaks English in addition to Russian and basic Japanese. Furthermore, Evgenia is a big fan of Japanese anime and enjoys digital drawing. In 2020, she created and launched an online store featuring items using her illustrations. She has created a lot of beautiful artwork, and even though she is one of the best figure skaters in the world, she also has a creative side. In 2017, she began her university studies and enrolled at the Russian State University of Physical Education, Sport, Youth and Tourism; and was planning to finish the 10th and 11th grades as an external student.

Evgenia has a hobby and has claimed that she might have become a makeup artist if not for her figure skating career. In 2020 she was offered a photoshoot in a men’s magazine. Nevertheless, the two-time world figure skating champion Evgenia Medvedeva was clear about her feelings about stripping in a men’s magazine, stating that nude pictures are not aligned with her believes, and the idea opposes how she wants to be perceived. Moreover, The Olympic silver medalist added that she doesn’t condemn other athletes who have posed for such publications, possibly referring to her compatriot Elizaveta Tuktamysheva, who featured on the cover of Maxim magazine earlier in 2020. In autumn 2020, Medvedeva had to be hospitalized to get treatment for a serious spine injury. As she became better and planned to return to the ice, her training was undermined again when she got Covid-19 and was hospitalized once again, suffering problems with her lungs and respiratory system. She spent most of November and the beginning of December recovering. She tried to return to her training on December 8, but her doctors advised her that she couldn’t adequately prepare in at least two weeks before the 2021 Russian Championships. Hence, she had to withdraw from the Nationals.

Evgenia Medvedeva was active on the ice from the age of three. Her mother took her to improve her back position, but she loved to skate right from the beginning. Her first trainer at the famous CSK Moscow Club was Elena Proskurina, Lubov Yakovleva, and Elena Selivanova. As the coaches changed too much and her mother didn’t see enough progress with her technique, she decided to move Evgenia to the well-known and prestigious Olympic Reserve Sports School no. 37, renamed Sambo 70, where she could train with Eteri Tutberidze om the Krystal track. Evgenia knew how to do double jumps, but she needed to learn everything again since Eteri considered her to be too weak at the time. When she fell too much while practicing jumps, her trainer dragged her over the ice to teach her the hard way to stop falling. According to a documentary, Eteri said to her student that “you fall too much, it seems that you love ice,” as she pulled Evgenia across the ice in front of her companions. Luckily Evgenia doesn’t remember these incidents as traumatic, but as proof of improvement, since her landings became much better much faster. In her early years of training, she was tireless regarding her perseverance and strong mind and often trained around 18 hours in one day to improve specific technical skills when that was needed.

In 2012 Evgenia Medvedeva made her senior national debut at the Russian Championships. She finished in the eighth position and the sixth position on the junior level. At the start of the following season, she sustained an injury and didn’t get a chance to qualify for the senior Russian Nationals, while she only finished fourth behind Maria Sotskova at the 2013 Russian Junior Championships. Medvedeva’s international junior debut came in the 2013–2014 season. She debuted with great success in the ISU Junior Grand Prix series, where she got the gold medal first in Riga, Latvia, and after that in Gdańsk, Poland. Furthermore, she successfully qualified for the JGP Final in Fukuoka, Japan. Here she experienced the hardest competition regarding what she had tried earlier on. Still, she was able to keep her focus and win the bronze medal behind Sotskova and Serafima Sakhanovich, both from Russia. It didn’t take long for the talented Evgenia to accomplish new victories. She took part in the competitions of the championship of the Russian Federation in 2014, and here she managed to take seventh place among the adult figure skaters and fourth among the juniors. March of the same year was even more successful while she won second place and silver medal at the Russian Figure Skating Cup in the adult category.

This silver medal allowed her to participate in international competitions, and she was assigned to replace the injured Sotskova and compete at the 2014 World Junior Championship in Sofia, Bulgaria. She was strong enough to achieve third place in both divisions. Hence, winning the bronze medal while Elena Radionova and Sakhanovich, respectively, took gold and silver. This gave Russia the second consecutive sweep of the World Junior ladies podium in a row. In the following 2014 JGP season, Medvedeva’s first assignment was in Courchevel, France, where she won first place and the gold medal by a margin of 21 points over silver medalist Rin Nitaya of Japan. Later on the same year, at her second event, in Ostrava, Czech Republic, she received a silver medal in both segments, losing only 1.44 points to the winner from Japan, Wakaba Higuchi. Moreover, she qualified for the Junior Grand Prix Final in Barcelona, Spain, where she once again won a gold medal, placing first in both the short program and free skate. In 2015, she became third in both segments at the Russian Championships, winning her first senior national medal, behind the two Russian skaters Elena Radionova and Elizaveta Tuktamysheva. Then she won first place at the 2015 Russian Junior Championships, finishing almost 20 points ahead of Maria Sotskova, the silver medalist. Later that same year, at the 2015 World Junior Championships in Tallinn, Estonia, she made an impressive achievement, where she set a new world record of 68.48 points for the junior ladies short program. In the free program after that, she was again placed first and won gold. Her technical skills were outstanding, and she had no falls on the ice throughout the whole season in international events.

Entering the 2015–2016 season, Medvedeva became age-eligible to compete at the senior international level. Her exceptional 2014-2015 season had strengthened her self-confidence, and she started the season winning gold at the 2015 Ondrej Nepela Trophy competition. One month later, she competed at her first senior Grand Prix event – the 2015 Skate America competition. Again she made an impressive performance and finished first in the short program and second in the free skate. Hence, winning the gold medal ahead of Gracie Gold of the United States. Furthermore, she won silver at her next Grand Prix assignment, the 2015 Rostelecom Cup, behind Elena Radionova. At the last Grand Prix Final in Barcelona, Spain, at the beginning of December 2015, she managed to become first in both segments leading the way to another gold medal, just ahead of Satoko Miyahara from Japan. This result made her the fifth-youngest Grand Prix Final champion ever, at age 16. Later the same month, she won gold at the 2016 Russian Championships, ahead of silver medalist Radionova. In January 2016, Evgenia Medvedeva competed at the 2016 European Championships in Bratislava, Slovakia, her first senior-level ISU Championships. She was unstoppable and won both sections, giving her the gold medal while her teammates Radionova and Anna Pogorilaya took silver and bronze, respectively.

In March, at the 2016 World Championship in Boston, United States, Medvedeva won the gold medal after finishing third in the short program and then winning the free skate section with a new world record score of 150.10. Her total score of 223.86 was a new personal best, only 8.47 points ahead of Ashley Wagner, the silver medalist. Winning both the 2015 Junior World title and senior World title, the only 16 years-old Evgenia Medvedeva became the first female singles skater to win both championships back-to-back. Moreover, she was the second ice skater in 23 years to win in a debut at the World Championship and the youngest (16 years and four months). She was also the second ladies skater ever to take gold in the Grand Prix Final, The European Championship, and her own country’s National Championships within the same season. At the Team Challenge Cup in Spokane, Washington, in 2016, she ranked first in both divisions. After the head-to-head competition, the European Team was in third place and achieved second place in the main event. Medvedeva began the next Grand Prix season at the Skate Canada International and continued her winning streak, winning both segments and the gold medal. The same thing happened at the 2016 Trophée de France. On her way to the victory, she made the second-highest score for a lady and just 0.14 from the world record. She also collected 15 points from both events, qualifying her with maximum points for the Grand Prix Final.

At the Final in Marseille, France, she made another world record in the ladies’ short program with a score (79.21), giving her another overall gold medal, making her the fifth to win the two Grand Prix Final titles after each other. In December 2016, she once again won the national title at the 2017 Russian Championship. In January 2017, in the European Championships in Ostrava, the Czech Republic, she finished first in both sections and won the gold medal, making another free skate world record with a score of 150.79 (previously held by herself), and the new world record holder for the ladies combined score with of 229.71. At the next World Championship in Helsinki, Finland, in March 2017, she set another round of world records, both in the free skate (154.40) and in the combined score (233.41). She did not only win the title, but she also became the first female skater to make a score above 230, win two back-to-back world titles in 16 years, and the first Russian woman to defend her world championship title successfully. In April 2017, at the 2017 World Team Trophy in Tokyo, Japan, she competed on Team Russia and became first in the short program with another new world record score of 80.85, and first in the free skate, again with a world record (160.46) helping the Russian Team to win the silver medal after Japan and in front of USA. Later the ISU acknowledged her total score as another combined world record (241.31), making her the first female skater above the 240-point mark. In the following years, Medvedeva continued to impress, winning a total of seven gold medals and titles with lots of new world records and recognition. In the 2020-2021 season, she continued to qualify for several big championships, but the Corona outbreak and severe back pains stopped her from competing. Late 2020 in November, she was tested positive for COVID-19 and was admitted to the hospital with severe lung damage. Hence she was not representing the Russian Team during the 2021-2022 season start.

When talking about Evgenia Medvedeva, it’s natural to look at her technique and her technical performance. Her results speak for themselves, and her outstanding technique has been the key to her success over the years. Several of her famous jump combinations utilize the same ending with a triple toe loop, such as the combination 3F-3T, 3S-3T, 3Lo-3T, 2A-3T. Medvedeva is also quite famous for practicing the triple-triple-triple and triple-triple-triple-triple jump combinations. Later in her career, she began to include different kinds of triple loop jumps on the end of a combination, some of them being 3S-3Lo or 2A-3Lo, 3Lo-3Lo, and 3F-3Lo. She has often used a technique called the “Tano” variation, where she executes her jumps with one arm over her head. Originally it was performed and popularized by Brian Boitano, an American figure skater from Sunnyvale, California, as part of his triple Lutz combination. Later on, more precisely in the 2016–2017 season, she began to utilize the “Rippon” variation, where the ice skater jumps with both arms over the head. Medvedeva also frequently performed a cross grab I-position spiral towards the rink center when her performance and program is almost over. Despite her high level of quality, she has been criticized for her “flutz.” A Lutz jump where Medvedeva takes off from the inside edge of the blade instead of the required outside edge.

Now let’s look into some of Evgenia Medvedeva’s many endorsements. First of all, Medvedeva was on the front cover of Russian Tatler in the May 2017 issue and the cover of Elle Girl Russia, July 2017. Furthermore, in March 2018, she was on the cover of the Russian magazine Top Beauty. Moreover, in 2017, Medvedeva was included and ranked 46 in SportsPro 50 Most Marketable Athletes list. She was also the second figure skater ever to be included on the list, after Yuna Kim, who was listed in 2013 by the British sports magazine. Medvedeva was included and ranked 14 in Business Insider’s 2017 list of the world’s 50 most dominant athletes, and later the same year, she was listed as one of the most successful young people in Europe in the Forbes ’30 under 30 Europe’ list. Medvedeva’s sponsors are her skating boot manufacturer, Edea, her Gold Seal blade manufacturer, John Wilson, and Nike. In 2018, she was presented with her custom-made and engraved 24K gold blades from John Wilson, designed by her former fellow skaters Misha Ge. Her other endorsements include the title of brand ambassador for Pantene in 2018. In 2019, she appeared in a TV advertisement with her Russian teammate Alina Zagitova for a Japanese game called Magia Record: Puella Magi Madoka Magica Gaiden. Additionally, Evgenia Medvedeva has also cooperated with Rivaland and Aniplex, both Japanese brands.

Last but not least, let’s take a look at Evgenia Medvedeva’s records and achievements. Her many titles and victories for Russia gave her the Order of Friendship in 2018, awarded by Vladimir Putin, the President of Russia. Medvedeva was the first female singles skater to set a 13-competition winning streak under the International Judging System (IJS). She was also the first ladies’ singles skater to win the senior World Championship the year after winning the Junior World Championship, after winning gold at the 2015 World Junior Championships, and then at the 2016 World Championships. Furthermore, Medvedeva was the first ladies’ singles skater to win two consecutive senior World Championships the year after winning the Junior World Championship. First, she won gold at the World Junior Championships in 2015, then the World Championships in 2016, and finally the World Championships in 2017. Furthermore, she holds a world record for the female skaters in the combined total score for the short program with 241.31 points, set three times at the European Championships in 2017 (229,71), at the World Championship (233,41) in 2017, and the ISU World Team Trophy (241,31) also in 2017. Evgenia Medvedeva also holds a world record for the female free skating score (160,46), which she set impressively four times in 2016 (150,10), in 2017 (150,79), in 2017 (154,40), and once again in 2017 (160,46). She was the first female skater to break the 80-points mark (80.85), achieved at the ISU World Team Trophy in 2017. Moreover, the first ladies skater to break the 160-point mark (160.46) at the ISU World Team Trophy in 2017 for the ladies’ free skating score. Also, she was the first female skater to break the 230-point mark (233.41) in the combined total score, achieved at the World Championships in 2017. Finally, the first female skater to break the 240-point mark (241.31) in the combined total score achieved at the ISU World Team Trophy in 2017.