Evgenia Medvedeva Wiki: Everything To Know About The 2018 Olympic Silver Medalist Skater

Evgenia Medvedeva was born on November 19, 1999 in Moscow, Russia to Zhana and Arman Babasyan. Zhana is a former figure skater herself, having quit the sport at 14. Her parents are divorced, hence Evgenia taking her mother’s maiden name, Medvedeva. Both of her parents supported her skating because they thought she needed more exercise. She was introduced to figure skating at the age of three and trained by Elena Proskurina, Lubov Yakovleva and Elena Selivanova. When she was seven, she switched coaches to train with esteemed Russian coach Eteri Tutberidze. Eteri Tutberidze also trained Yulia Lipnitskya, the Russian hopeful in the Sochi Olympics in 2014.

Medvedeva made her senior national debut in 2012 at the Russian Figure Skating National Championships, where she finished eighth. She placed sixth at the junior Russian Nationals, and then fourth the following year. An injury held her back from the 2013 senior Russian National Championship though she went on to make her nationl debut in the 2013-2014 season when she competed on the ISU junior Grand Prix circuit. It was there that she won gold medals in two events, one in Latvia and one in Poland. She then qualified for the Junior Grand Prix Final, where she placed third. Medvedeva competed in her second senior level competition at the 2014 Russian National Championships where she placed sixth, but also placed third in two junior World Championship events the same year.

The 2014-2015 season was when she began to show her true talent when she won the junior World Championship by a wide margin, and then swept the junior Grand Prix not long after that. Later that year, she placed third in the senior Russian National Championships when she won a gold medal at the junior Russian Nationals. At the World Junior Championships, she set a new world record with a score of 68.48 points in the short program, and then won gold after placing first in the free program as well.

Medvedeva finally became eligible to compete in international competitions at the senior level in the 2015-2016 season. She had a magnificent season, winning silver or gold medals in all of her Grand Prix events, including the final, and only coming in second to her Russian teammate, Elena Radionova. She also beat out Radionova at the Russian National Championships. At the European Championships, she once again took the gold medal, leading a Russian sweep of the podium, with Radionova taking the silver and Anna Pogorilaya taking the bronze. Medvedeva set another world record at the 2016 World Championships with her free skate, scoring 150.10 points, just .04 ahead of previous record holder, Yuna Kim. She once again took the gold, ahead of Ashley Wagner of the United States, and Pogorilaya. This made Medvedeva the only ladies figure skater ever to have won the junior world title and senior world title back to back, as well as the youngest world champion since Tara Lipinski in 1997. She is also the second woman ever to win the Grand Prix Final, Europeans, Worlds, and her own country’s national championships in the same year, the other being retired Russian figure skater Irina Slutskaya.

During the 2016-2017 season, Medvedeva seemed to only grow stronger. She qualified for the Grand Prix Final after winning all of her events, and she won the title with a world record setting short program score of 79.21 points. Winning the Grand Prix back to back has only been accomplished four other female figure skaters: Slutskaya, Lipinski, Kim and Mao Asada. She then defended her national title and won the gold despite a fall on a combination jump. At the World Championships, she set world records once again, with 154.4 points in the free skate, and by becoming the first woman to score a combined total of over 230 points. She became the first ladies figure skater to win back to back world titles since Michelle Kwan in 2001, and the only Russian woman to ever do so.

She continued to dominate the 2017 season, until an unfortunate foot injury in November when one of the metatarsal bones in her right foot cracked. Medvedeva was forced to withdraw from the Grand Prix Final and the Russian National Championships, setting her up for the 2018 Winter Olympic Games with a disadvantage of not having either title. Both the Grand Prix Final and Russian Nationals were won by her Russian rival, 15 year old Alina Zagitova. Although she missed nationals, Medvedeva was still given the opportunity to make the Russian Olympic team when she competed at the European Championships, where she did not disappoint. She finished in second, settling for the silver medal while Zagitova took the gold.

Medvedeva competed in the 2018 Winter Olympic Games as part of the team of the Olympic Athletes from Russia. The Russian athletes were not allowed to compete as an official Russian team because of a doping scandal. Each athlete was tested and the ones who were cleared competed as an Olympic Athlete from Russia. Medvedeva competed in the team skating event and in the ladies figure skating event. She performed her short program for the team event, setting a new world record of 81.61 points and earning 10 points for the Russian team. The team won silver medals in the team event. In the ladies short program, she and Zagitova both broke her world record from the team event, and she placed second to Zagitova. The pair performed excellently in the free skate, once again placing one-two, with Zagitova on top. They shared the podium with Kaetlyn Osmond of Canada, who took the bronze.

Medvedeva’s skating idol is Evgeni Plushenko, famous male figure skater who was among the first to do quadruple jumps. Her skating is distinguished by the jumps she does with her arms above her head. Medvedeva was one of the first women to start doing these jumps, called Tano and Rippon jumps after skaters Brian Boitano and Adam Rippon. She is a fan of Anime, particularly Sailor Moon, who she portrays in one of her exhibition programs. She is also a fan of K-pop, especially the group 'EXO.' She has an endorsement deal with Pantene, and has done photo spreads several magazines including 'Marie Claire Russia' and 'Elle Russia.' Her net worth is currently unknown, but she and Zagitova’s rivalry dominated much of the skating talk at the 2018 Winter Olympic Games, which will bring more endorsement deals. You can follow Medvedeva's career on Instagram at instagram.com/jmedvedevaj.