Anna Sergeyevna Ovcharova (; born 16 March 1996) is a Russian

figure skater Figure skating is a sport in which individuals, pairs, or groups perform on figure skates on ice. It was the first winter sport to be included in the Olympic Games, with its introduction occurring at the 1908 Olympics in London. The Olympic d ...

. In 2013, she began competing for

Switzerland Switzerland, officially the Swiss Confederation, is a landlocked country located in west-central Europe. It is bordered by Italy to the south, France to the west, Germany to the north, and Austria and Liechtenstein to the east. Switzerland ...

. She is the 2014

Bavarian Open The Bavarian Open is an international figure skating competition held in February at the Eissportzentrum Oberstdorf in Oberstdorf, Germany. It is organized by the Skating Union of Bavaria. Since 2011, it has been sanctioned by the Deutsche Eisla ...

silver medalist, 2014

Challenge Cup The Rugby Football League Challenge Cup, commonly known just as the Challenge Cup is a Single-elimination tournament, knockout rugby league cup competition organised by the Rugby Football League, held annually since 1896, it is the world's old ...

bronze medalist, and 2014 Swiss national champion. For Russia, she is the 2011 Cup of Nice bronze medalist, 2010 Russian national junior silver medalist, and placed fifth at the 2010 World Junior Championships.

Personal life

Anna Sergeyevna Ovcharova was born on 16 March 1996 in Moscow. She graduated from Collège du Léman in

Geneva Geneva ( , ; ) ; ; . is the List of cities in Switzerland, second-most populous city in Switzerland and the most populous in French-speaking Romandy. Situated in the southwest of the country, where the Rhône exits Lake Geneva, it is the ca ...

, class of 2014.

Career

For Russia

Ovcharova began skating at age four, taught initially by

Marina Cherkasova Marina Evgenievna Cherkasova (; born 17 November 1964) is a Russian retired pair skater. With Sergei Shakhrai, she won the 1979 European title at the age of 14. At 15, she was the 1980 Olympic silver medalist and 1980 World champion. Car ...

. At age seven, she began training at CSKA Moscow under the guidance of Elena Blagova, who would teach her double and triple jumps. Svetlana Sokolovskaya began coaching Ovcharova when she was about eleven years old. Ovcharova made her international debut in the 2009–10 season on the Junior Grand Prix series. She placed fifth in her first JGP event in August 2009 in Hungary and then won silver in September in Poland. Her results qualified her for the JGP Final where she finished fifth. After winning the silver medal at the Russian Junior Championships, Ovcharova was assigned to the 2010 World Junior Championships. She placed first in the short program — winning a small gold medal for the segment — eighth in the free skate, and fifth overall. Later in 2010, Ovcharova underwent laser treatment on a small cyst in her leg but her condition only worsened. She was then diagnosed with two large cysts and incipient bone necrosis, leading to surgery in Geneva in 2011 and in Moscow in 2012. Ovcharova won the bronze medal at the 2011 Cup of Nice in October 2011. It was her last international appearance representing Russia.

For Switzerland

In December 2011, Ovcharova began training with

Peter Grütter Peter Grütter (born 30 June 1942) is a retired competitive Swiss figure skater who currently works as a coach. Biography Grütter was born in Bern. He competed for Switzerland at the 1964 Winter Olympics, placing 24th. He retired from competitiv ...

. In the 2012–13 season, she was the silver medalist at the Swiss Nationals. In spring 2013, she performed in ''Music on Ice'' shows. In 2013–14, Ovcharova made her international debut for Switzerland. She placed 16th at the Cup of Nice and 9th at the Ice Challenge in autumn 2013. After taking gold at the Swiss Championships, she won her first international medals for her new country, silver at the 2014

and bronze at the 2014

. Ovcharova was named in the Swiss team to the 2014 World Championships in Saitama, Japan. Ranked 17th in the short program, she qualified for the free skate and finished 20th overall. Ovcharova's first Grand Prix invitations came in the 2014–15 season. After placing 12th at the 2014 Trophée Éric Bompard and 11th at the 2014 NHK Trophy, she finished second to Eveline Brunner at the Swiss Championships. Ovcharova was not named in the Swiss team to the 2015 European Championships in

Stockholm Stockholm (; ) is the Capital city, capital and List of urban areas in Sweden by population, most populous city of Sweden, as well as the List of urban areas in the Nordic countries, largest urban area in the Nordic countries. Approximately ...

. Although selected for the

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, after a poor performance at the Hellmut Seibt Memorial she decided to cede the spot to Brunner. On 14 April 2015 Ovcharova announced her retirement from competitive figure skating on her

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account.

Programs

Competitive highlights

''GP: Grand Prix; CS: Challenger Series (began in the 2014–15 season); JGP: Junior Grand Prix''

For Switzerland

For Russia

Detailed results

''(Small medals for short and free programs awarded only at ISU Championships.)''

References

External links

* {{DEFAULTSORT:Ovcharova, Anna Russian female single skaters Swiss female single skaters 1996 births Living people Figure skaters from Moscow Russian expatriate sportspeople in Switzerland 21st-century Russian sportswomen 21st-century Swiss sportswomen