Anastasia Tarakanova

Anastasia Tarakanova
Tarakanova at the 2017–18 JGP Final
Full name	Anastasia Anatolyevna Tarakanova
Native name	Анастасия Анатольевна Тараканова (Russian)
Born	(2004-04-14) 14 April 2004 Volgograd, Volgograd Oblast, Russia
Hometown	Moscow, Russia
Height	1.54 m (5 ft 1⁄2 in)
Figure skating career
Country	Russia
Coach	Evgeni Plushenko, Ksenia Ivanova
Skating club	FS Academy Angels of Plushenko
Began skating	2008
Medal record Representing Russia Figure skating: Ladies' singles Junior Grand Prix Final 2017–18 Nagoya Ladies' singles

Anastasia Anatolyevna Tarakanova (Template:Lang-ru; born 14 April 2004) is a Russian figure skater. She is the 2017 JGP Austria champion, and the 2017–18 JGP Final bronze medalist. She currently has the sixth highest score of any junior lady; 190.69 points.

Personal life

Tarakanova was born on 14 April 2004 in Volgograd, Russia. Her father is a swimmer and her mother is also an athlete. Due to her allergies, she was advised by a doctor to skate or swim. She tried both sports and won her first swimming competition as the youngest competitor, receiving her trophy from three-time Olympic gold medalist Yevgeny Sadovyi. She eventually chose to focus on skating, considering it beautiful and enjoying the support of the audience. She also enjoys painting for leisure.

Career

Early years

Tarakanova began learning to skate in December 2007. She learned her basics with Lyudmila Puchkova and a year before leaving Volgograd, she went to train with Irina Aksenova.

In 2011, Tarakanova moved to Moscow due to her father's work. Her first coach in Moscow was Irina Klimova, who was a student of the famous Stanislav Zhuk. She then switched to coach Maria Butyrskaya, World Figure Skating Champion. Later, she moved from Krylatskoye to Novokosino and Snow Lepeords was a nearby rink and she went to train under Svetlana Panova. Training conditions got difficult at Snow Lepeords and Tarakanova decided to leave Panova in April, 2017.

2014–2015 season: Younger age national title

Tarakanova began competing her double axels early the season and placed 3rd at Volkov Memorial. Later that season, Tarakanova eventually gained all her triples and competed at Moscow Championships Elder Age with a 6th-place finish, earning her a spot at Russian Nationals Elder Age, where she finished 5th after Polina Tsurskaya, Alisa Fedichkina, Alina Solovyova and Stanislava Konstantinova. She went on to win the Moscow Championships Younger Age. Her highlight of the season was her win at Russian Nationals Younger age, where she earned 198.22 points, edging out silver medalist Anna Shcherbakova by 24.54 points and bronze medalist Alexandra Trusova by 24.71 points.

2015–2016 season: Junior national debut

Tarakanova started off her season with a 5th place at Moscow Open Championship. She then experimented her triple-triple combination at Volkov Memorial, where she placed 2nd. She earned herself 2 spots at the IV & V Stages of Cup of Russia and had two 4th-place finishes. She then earned her ticket to the Russian Junior Nationals as the youngest competitor. However, she had pops and falls in both the short program and free skate which left her placing 16th overall. She competed at Russian Cup Finals placing 9th. She also competed at both Moscow Championships Younger & Elder age, but only placed 7th and 13th respectively and missing out on both Russian Nationals Younger & Elder Age.

2016–2017 season: Nationals Younger Age & Elder Age Titles

Tarakanova completed a triple lutz-triple toe combination at the Moscow Open Championship and finished 5th at the competition. She placed 4th and 3rd respectively at the I & V stages of Cup of Russia and qualified for Russian Junior Nationals, where she placed 14th. At the Russian Cup Final, she placed 4th. She won gold at the Russian Nationals Younger Age, placing ahead of Anna Shcherbakova and Alexandra Trusova with a score of 246.18 points. She then went on to win the Russian Nationals Elder Age.

2017–2018 season: Junior International Debut

Tarakanova changed coaches ahead of the season, joining Eteri Tutberidze and Sergei Dudakov, who also coach in Moscow.

Tarakanova's international debut came in early September 2017 at a 2017–18 ISU Junior Grand Prix (JGP) competition in Salzburg, Austria; ranked first in both segments, she won the gold medal ahead of Lim Eun-soo. Her total score at the event, 196.68 points, is the fifth highest ever achieved by a ladies' single skater on the junior level. She placed 3rd at her second JGP assignment, in Zagreb, Croatia. With these results she qualified for the 2017–18 JGP Final in Nagoya, Japan. At the JGP Final she won the bronze medal with a personal best score of 199.64 points after placing 3rd in the short program and 3rd in the free skate. At this competition she placed behind her teammates and training partners Alexandra Trusova (gold) and Alena Kostornaia (silver).

In January 2018 she competed at the 2018 Russian Junior Championships where she placed 7th after placing 4th in the short program and 7th in the free skate.

2018–2019 season

From July 2018, Tarakanova trains with Evgeni Plushenko group.

Tarakanova started her season by competing in the 2018 JGP series. At her first JGP event of the season she won the silver medal in Vancouver, Canada. She was ranked 2nd in both the short program and the free skate and finished about 5 points behind the gold medalist, her teammate Anna Shcherbakova.

At her 2nd JGP event of the season she won the gold medal in Ljubljana, Slovenia. She was ranked 3rd in the short program but 1st in the free skate and won the gold medal by a margin of less than 2 points over the silver medalist, her teammate Anna Tarusina. With one JGP gold medal and one silver medal Tarakanova has qualified to the 2018–19 Junior Grand Prix Final.

Programs

Season	Short program	Free skating	Exhibition
2018-19	Querer performed by Francesca Gagnon	Moonlight Sonata performed by E.S. Posthumus
2017–2018	Fly performed by Ludovico Einaudi Experience performed by Ludovico Einaudi choreo. by Daniil Gleikhengauz	Sarabande Suite (Aeternae) by Globus choreo. by Daniil Gleikhengauz
2016–2017	Strange Birds performed by Birdy choreo. by Ilona Protasenia	Tore My Heart by OONA choreo. by Ilona Protasenia
2015–2016	Maktub performed by O Clone choreo. by Ilona Protasenia	Tore My Heart by OONA choreo. by Ilona Protasenia The Addams Family choreo. by Ilona Protasenia
2014–2015	Maktub performed by O Clone choreo. by Ilona Protasenia	The Addams Family choreo. by Ilona Protasenia

Competitive highlights

JGP: Junior Grand Prix

International
Event	15–16	16–17	17–18	18–19
JGP Final			3rd	4th
JGP Austria			1st
JGP Canada				2nd
JGP Croatia			3rd
JGP Slovenia				1st
National
Russian Champ.				TBD
Russian Junior Champ.	16th	14th	7th	TBD
TBD = Assigned

Detailed results

Junior level

Tarakanova at the 2017–18 JGP Final.

2018–19 season
Date	Event	Level	SP	FS	Total
6–9 December 2018	2018–19 JGP Final	Junior	5 61.78	TBD	TBD
3–6 October 2018	2018 JGP Slovenia	Junior	3 63.98	1 126.07	1 190.05
12–15 September 2018	2018 JGP Canada	Junior	2 64.56	2 126.13	2 190.69
2017–18 season
Date	Event	Level	SP	FS	Total
23–26 January 2018	2018 Russian Junior Championships	Junior	4 69.74	7 128.64	7 198.38
7–10 December 2017	2017–18 JGP Final	Junior	3 67.90	3 131.74	3 199.64
27–30 September 2017	2017 JGP Croatia	Junior	1 66.58	6 98.99	3 165.57
31 August – 2 September 2017	2017 JGP Austria	Junior	1 66.68	1 130.00	1 196.68
2016–17 season
Date	Event	Level	SP	FS	Total
1–5 February 2017	2017 Russian Junior Championships	Junior	16 53.29	14 112.09	14 165.38
2015–16 season
Date	Event	Level	SP	FS	Total
21–23 January 2016	2016 Russian Junior Championships	Junior	18 47.62	14 101.46	16 149.08

External links

• Anastasia Tarakanova at the International Skating Union
• Anastasia Tarakanova on Instagram