Along with Alina Zagitova, Medvedeva is one of the faces of Russian figure skating. She has huge amounts of ability: setting new scoring world records on 13 occasions – and is the first female skater to beat the 80 point mark in the short program and the 160 point mark in free skating.
She picked up two silver medals at the PyeongChang 2018 Olympic Winter Games – a career high point for the Moscow-born 20-year-old.
Medvedeva has also been world champion twice, in 2016 and 2017, the European champion twice (2016 and 2017), the Grand Prix champion twice (2015 and 2016) and is a double Russian Champion (2016, 2017). She was also a dominant presence in junior skating.
Having missed out on Olympic gold in PyeongChang 2018, Medvedeva is now laser focused on winning the biggest prize of all at the Beijing 2022 Olympic Winter Games. She moved to Canada after PyeongChang, where she now trains in Toronto – replacing old coach Eteri Tutberidze with Brian Orser. “I feel at home in Canada,” she says. “My English is basic, but of course they understand. They know how to encourage me. We feel like a sports family. In this way, I am at home. But I still have a feeling that I am in a long term business trip. My whole family, friends are based in Russia. I really miss Russia very much but I know that Canada is better for me work wise.”