Anna Shcherbakova

Competitive skating career Early career Shcherbakova began skating at age three in 2007 with her first coach Oksana Bulycheva at the Khrustalnyi rink of the Olympic Reserve Sports School No. 37 (later absorbed into the "Sambo 70" sports school) in Moscow. She parted ways with Bulycheva in November 2013 at age nine and began training in the elite group at the same rink, led by Eteri Tutberidze and Sergei Dudakov. 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. She did recover enough to compete at the 2018 Russian Figure Skating Championships where she finished 13th at the Junior level and 5th at the 2018 Russian Youth Championships – Elder Age level. This injury would continue to affect her knees throughout the course of her career.

Junior career 2017–2018 season Shcherbakova returned to competition in January 2018 at the 2018 Russian Junior Championships, finishing thirteenth with a total score of 179.19.

2018–2019 season: International debut

Shcherbakova debuted internationally on the Junior Grand Prix circuit in August. She was assigned to events in Slovakia and Canada. At the 2018 JGP Slovakia, she placed first in both the short program and free skate, winning the gold medal by a margin of over 18 points over the silver medalist and fellow Russian competitor Anna Tarusina. In October, Shcherbakova competed at the 2nd stage of the 2018 Russian Cup and became the first woman skater to land a quad Lutz at a domestic event. Later in December 2018, at the 2019 Russian Championships, she once again landed the quad Lutz and won the gold medal with a total score of 229.78. At 14 years and seven months old, she became the third-youngest Russian women's singles champion in history. Despite winning the Russian title, she was too young to compete in the European Championships or World Championships of that season, both of which required participants to have turned 15 before 1 July 2018. Next, she competed at the 2019 European Youth Olympic Festival in Sarajevo and won the gold medal nearly thirty points ahead of silver medalist Lucrezia Beccari. Shcherbakova was selected by the Russian Figure Skating Federation to compete at the 2019 Junior World Championships in Zagreb, Croatia. She scored 72.86 in the short program and 147.08 in the free skate and won the silver medal behind teammate Trusova.

Senior career 2019–2020 season: Senior international debut

In September, Shcherbakova entered her first international senior competition in Italy at the ISU Challenger Series event, the 2019 Lombardia Trophy. After the short program, she was in third place behind Elizaveta Tuktamysheva and You Young. 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. Her free program featured a costume change when the music switches from Gnossiennes No. 1 to The Firebird.

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 (quad Lutz-triple toe loop) in an international competition. Shcherbakova also won her second event, the 2019 Cup of China, by a 14.86-point margin and qualified for the Grand Prix Final in Turin.

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. Then at the 2020 Russian Championships, she skated cleanly to place second in the short program behind Kostornaia, who was ten points ahead going into the free skate. Shcherbakova won the free skate, landing two quad Lutzes and the quad flip for the first time, and won her second national title by just under two points overall.

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. Despite the fall, she placed first in the free skate and won the silver medal behind Kostornaia. Together with Kostornaia and Trusova, who took the bronze, the trio made for an all-Russian podium in the women's singles event.

2020–2021 season: World champion Shcherbakova debuted both of her programs at the Russian senior test skates with only one fall on her quad Lutz attempt in the free program, which she called "a good starting point". Shcherbakova won the first stage in Syzran with a score of 246.40 and the third stage in Sochi with 239.91 points. She was assigned, as with other prominent Russian skaters, to the 2020 Rostelecom Cup after the ISU decided to base the Grand Prix primarily on geographic location due to the COVID-19 pandemic. However, she withdrew on the day of the event due to illness, later revealed to be pneumonia.

Shcherbakova had limited ability to train in advance of the 2021 Russian Championships due to pneumonia. She decided to compete in the event against her coaches' recommendation for her to withdraw. 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. Shcherbakova made history by becoming the first woman to win three consecutive Russian titles since Irina Slutskaya (1999–2001) and the first since the introduction of the ISU Judging system in 2004. Shcherbakova was assigned to the Russian team for the 2021 World Championships in Stockholm. 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, Tuktamysheva and Trusova's podium placements made this only the second time, after the United States in 1991, that a single country had swept the women's podium at the World Championships. Shcherbakova then competed as part of the Russian team for the 2021 World Team Trophy in April, winning the short program on the opening day within one point ahead of Tuktamysheva. Shcherbakova finished in first place and won a gold medal with team Russia. Her first Grand Prix assignment was initially the 2021 Cup of China, but following its cancellation, she was reassigned to the 2021 Gran Premio d'Italia in Turin. She came back in the free skate and landed a quad flip to win both that segment and the gold medal. She fell on her only quad attempt in the free skate, placing fourth in that segment, but took the bronze medal overall behind Valieva and Trusova. However, in 2023, Valieva was stripped of the Russian title due to testing positive for a banned substance, so Shcherbakova became the silver medalist. At the 2022 European Championships in Tallinn, Shcherbakova placed fourth in the short program after falling on her triple Lutz and failing to execute a jump combination. Mounting a comeback in the free skate with a quad flip and seven triple jumps, she placed second in the segment and took the silver medal. Two years later, in January 2024, Shcherbakova became the 2022 European champion after Valieva's results were annulled.

On 20 January, Shcherbakova was officially named to the Russian Olympic team. She was not selected to compete in the team event as Valieva competed in both segments. 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. She was the first Olympic champion in women's single skating to compete quadruple jumps. After winning the gold medal, Shcherbakova indicated that she wanted to continue competing, including at the upcoming World Championships.

In early March 2022, the ISU banned all figure skaters and officials from Russia and Belarus from attending the World Championships due to the Russian invasion of Ukraine in late February; therefore, Shcherbakova was not allowed to participate and defend her title. Instead, Russia organized the Channel One Trophy to occur during the World Championships. Shcherbakova was named the captain of the Red Machine team. The first day of the competition was a jumping competition, and Shcherbakova led her team to victory. She finished second in the short program with a score of 82.90 and first in the free skating with a score of 176.12. This led the Red Machine team to win the competition.

2022–2023 season: Injury In August 2022, Shcherbakova traveled to Germany in order to have knee surgery for an old injury. She did not recover from the surgery in time for the 2023 Russian Championships. On 18 March 2023, Shcherbakova performed in Moscow at a show program tournament called the "Russian Challenge". She presented a program to the music from the Soviet TV series "Seventeen Moments of Spring" and finished third in the competition with a score of 19.08.

2023–2024 season: Illness Shcherbakova was listed as a reserve member of the 2023–24 Russian Women's Figure Skating national team. In July 2023, while at Eteri Tutberidze's team preparatory camp training for a potential resumption of competition, Shcherbakova contracted mononucleosis and was forced to suspend training. She was absent from a list of participants in the Russian national team's pre-season skating tests published 30 August by the Russian Figure Skating Federation. In March 2024, Shcherbakova was injured and underwent ankle surgery.

Skating technique Shcherbakova's skating has been distinguished by her high consistency in the performance of her programs. She is known for her musicality and dramatic performances.

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. Since then, quad jumps have become a prominent feature in Russian women's single skating.

Personal life In 2022, Scherbakova enrolled at Russian State University of Physical Education, Sport, Youth and Tourism.

She announced her engagement to former Russian hockey player, Artem Shakirov, in July 2026.

Public image Endorsements In March 2020, Shcherbakova signed an endorsement contract with Nike, and Nike listed her as a "Nike Athlete". Starting in November 2021, she became an official brand representative for Russian financial services company Sberbank and starred in an advertisement. The Chinese auto maker, Chery, welcomed Shcherbakova as their ambassador in May 2022 to endorse the Chery Omoda 5 model, and she received a custom Omoda model as her first car. Later the same year, with her father's advice, Shcherbakova collaborated with Chinese company Geetaverse to release a collection of NFTs titled "Born to Skate". In the first 24 hours after the launch, the sales amount reached nearly RMB¥1 million, and the total sales amount reached RMB¥1.6 million. This marked a new milestone as the quickest and largest NFT sales in China's sports industry for a single individual, with transactions totaling US$237,500 in a few days. In the next month, she promoted the Chinese video game Honkai: Star Rail, publishing a photoset in which she appeared as "Seele", the first limited banner character in the game created by HoYoverse. TCL Electronics announced Shcherbakova as the brand ambassador in Russia starting from June 2023, and she also featured in their promotional material.

In January 2024, Shcherbakova was appointed as an ambassador of the national brand "Made in Russia" by the Russian Export Center and attended the opening ceremony of the first "Made in Russia" Festival-fair in Shenyang, China. At a press conference at the Russian national team's test skate, Shcherbakova was announced as an ambassador for the 2025 Russian Championships in Omsk.

Magazine covers Shcherbakova appeared on the cover of the March 2020 Russian edition of Tatler alongside teammates Alina Zagitova, Alexandra Trusova, and Alena Kostornaia. She was on the cover of the "Hello!" magazine a total of three times: alongside Anastasia Bezrukova and Alena Arakcheeva in March 2019, and twice individually in July 2021 and December 2022. In February 2023, she appeared on the cover of the Russian edition of The Voice magazine alongside Alina Zagitova.

Film and television In October 2022, Shcherbakova joined fellow Russian Olympic champions Alexei Yagudin and Alina Zagitova as a host of the ninth season of Ice Age on Channel One. In December 2022, Shcherbakova hosted the New Year's Eve show on Channel One. Shcherbakova was voted by Komsomolskaya Pravda readers as the second-best Russian television presenter of 2022, behind Zagitova.

During the 2024-2025 season, Shcherbakova also commentated on Channel One for the Russian Grand Prix Series and the 2025 Russian Figure Skating Championships.

Following the start of the 2025-26 figure skating season, Anna Scherbakova has commentated on the Russian Grand Prix Series, and will commentate on the uncoming 2026 Russian Figure Skating Championships, all on Channel One.

Records and achievements

Set the women's record for the combined total (205.39 points), short program (73.18 points) and free program (132.21 points) at the 2018 JGP Slovakia. Her free program record was broken by Russian teammate Alena Kostornaia at the 2018 JGP Austria on 1 September 2018 with 132.42 points. Her short program and combined total records were broken by Russian teammate Alexandra Trusova at the 2018 JGP Lithuania on 6 September 2018. First woman skater to land a quad Lutz on 6 October 2018 at the 2nd stage of the 2019 Russian Cup, which is recognised by ISU in the media guide. Second senior woman skater after Elizabet Tursynbaeva to land a quad jump internationally at the 2019 CS Lombardia Trophy. First woman skater to land a quad Lutz in senior international competition on 14 September 2019 at the 2019 CS Lombardia Trophy. Set the new record for the highest valued single jump when she earned 14.79 points for her quadruple Lutz at the 2019 Skate America. At this competition, she also set the new record for the highest valued jump combination when she earned 18.66 points for her 4Lz+3T combination. First senior woman skater to land two quad flip jumps in one program at the 2022 Winter Olympics. At this competition, she also became the first woman to land a quad flip and a triple jump combination in competition.

Awards Master of Sports of Russia (2018) Master of Sports of Russia International Class (2020) Nominated by the ISU for the Best Costume Award (2020) Honoured Master of Sports of Russia (2021) Russian Order of Friendship (2022) Certificate of Merit by the Moscow City Duma (2022) "Pride of Russia" National Sports Award – Athlete of the Year (2022) Russian Olympic Committee – Best Athlete of the Olympic Games in Tokyo and Beijing (2022) Russian Athletes' Union – Best Athlete of the Beijing 2022 Olympic Winter Games (2023) Silver Doe Award – Best Athletes (2022) Nominated by the ISU for the Most Valuable Skater Award (2023)

Programs

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Competitive highlights

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