Plump 15-year-old Russian 'rose' wins PyeongChang Olympic figure skating championship

Finishing her freestyle program with 156.65 points on February 23, Alina Zagitova achieved a total score of 239.57 points and won the gold medal in women's singles figure skating, one of the most prestigious events that attracts the most viewers at the Winter Olympics. The victory of the 20-year-old girl defended the gold medal of the Russian delegation at the Winter Olympics. In Sochi 2014, Russian athlete Adelina Sotnikova also won the title in this event.

Alina's teammate in the Russian team, Evgenia Medvedeva, also scored 156.65 points, tying with the PyeongChang Olympic champion for first place in the freestyle competition. However, because she was 1.31 points behind in the short program on February 21, Medvedeva only won the silver medal. The 18-year-old beauty burst into tears after losing to her compatriot, but said she had no regrets because she tried her best on the ice.

Kaetlyn Osmond, Canadian athlete (far right) won bronze medal with 231.02 points.

'I won. Honestly, my hands are shaking because I still can't believe I'm an Olympic champion, it will take a while to get used to it,' the Russian teen beauty excitedly said after winning the gold medal.

Alina Zagitova won the women's singles figure skating title, bringing home the first gold medal for the Russian delegation at this year's Winter Olympics. The Russian delegation lacked many talented faces at PyeongChang 2018 after the doping scandal.

The Russian teenager is the second-youngest Olympic figure skating champion in history after American Tara Lipinski, who won gold at the 1998 Olympics in Nagano, Japan. Alina was just 26 days older than Lipinski when she won the Winter Olympics.

The 15-year-old girl is likened to a ballet dancer on the ice rink with precise, graceful, attractive movements and a beautiful, expressive face.

A week earlier, Alina Zagitova and teammate Evgenia Medvedeva had won silver in the team figure skating event at the PyeongChang Olympics, finishing behind Canada. The two Russian teenagers had immediately attracted attention after two team events and were expected to compete for gold in the women’s singles.

At just 15 years old, Alina Zagitova is the reigning Russian champion, European champion and Grand Prix Finalist. The teenage beauty also won the 2017 World Junior Championships.

The PyeongChang Olympic champion took full advantage of the fact that her sister and compatriot Evgenia Medvedeva suffered a foot injury a few months ago to win the Russian, European and Grand Prix Final titles. Before being surpassed by Alina Zagitova, Evgenia Medvedeva won the world, European, Russian and Grand Prix Final titles in 2016 and 2017.

In the short program on February 21, the 15-year-old girl broke the world record with 82.92 points, 1.31 points more than the old record set by Evgenia Medvedeva just a few minutes before. In a costume inspired by the movie 'Black Swan', the Russian beauty was the first skater to surpass the 82-point mark.

Alina Zagitova got acquainted with ice skates very early because her father was an ice hockey coach and had to leave her family at a young age to pursue her dream of becoming famous on the ice. She was named after the famous Russian gymnast, Alina Kabaeva. The PyeongChang Olympic champion also has a sister 7 years younger.