Anna Shcherbakova knew she'd need a big free skate at the 2022 European Figure Skating Championships, and she got it. The 2021 world champion and current world No. 1 was left in fourth place after an uncharacteristically shaky short program, where she fell on one of her jumps. As a member of a highly competitive Russian program, Shcherbakova would have to be nearly flawless in her free skate to make a strong case for the Olympics (and, you know, try to win a medal at the European Championships too).
Shcherbakova delivered and then some. Skating to a mix of Mozart, metal band Apocalyptica, the soundtrack of The Master and Margarita, the 17-year-old nailed all her jumps in an elegant and moving free skate that saw her leap back onto the podium. When the standing ovation ended, Shcherbakova received a score of 168.37, enough to earn her a silver medal. "She was the winner of the day for me," commentator Johnny Weir said. Shcherbakova finished behind teammate Kamila Valieva [1] and ahead of fellow Russian Alexandra Trusova [2], giving the Russian team a clean sweep of the podium — something we might see at the Olympics, too. Watch Shcherbakova's full free skate above and get ready for some serious competition in Beijing!
