Anna Viktorovna Vyakhireva ( rus, Анна Викторовна Вяхирева, , ˈanːə ˈvʲæxʲɪrʲɪvə; born 13 March 1995) is a Russian female professional

handball Handball (also known as team handball, European handball, Olympic handball or indoor handball) is a team sport in which two teams of seven players each (six outcourt players and a goalkeeper) pass a ball using their hands with the aim of thr ...

er, who plays for French club

Brest Bretagne Handball Brest Bretagne Handball, also knows as BBH, is a French professional handball club from Brest, Brittany. This team currently competes in the French Women's Handball First League from 2016 and the 2024–25 Women's EHF Champions League. Histo ...

and the Russian national team.

Biography

She started playing handball at her sister's training sessions at the age of six. Anna's older sister is Polina Kuznetsova, 2007 world champion and a member of the All-Star team at the

2012 European Women's Handball Championship The 2012 European Women's Handball Championship was held in Serbia from 4 to 16 December. Originally the tournament was scheduled to be held in the Netherlands but on 4 June 2012 the Dutch Handball Federation withdrew from the organization. Subse ...

. Her father, Victor Vyakhirev, was a women's handball coach, he in 2013 was on duty with the Zvezda Zvenigorod youth team.

Career

In 2011 Vyakhireva signed her first professional contract at

Zvezda Zvenigorod Zvezda Zvenigorod (, lit. ''Star Zvenigorod'') is a Russian women's handball club from Zvenigorod, near Moscow. They won the Champions League and the Champions Trophy in 2008, and the EHF Cup in 2006/07. Between 2006 and 2011 the club was coac ...

. Here she won the Russian cup in 2014. She then joined

HC Astrakhanochka Handball Club Astrakhanochka is a Russian women's team handball, handball club from Astrakhan established in 1993. It has played in the Russian Women's Handball Super League, Russian Super League since 1999, and in 2004 it made its debut in Europe ...

. Here she won the 2016 Russian Championship, and was selected for the league all star team. Right after she joined league rivals

Rostov-Don Rostov-Don () is a professional female handball team from Rostov-on-Don, Russia. Established in 1965, the club was called Rostselmash until 2002. Rostov-Don is competing in the Russian Super League. They have won the league seven times, in 1994, 2 ...

. Here she won the 2017

EHF Cup The EHF European League is an annual men's handball club competition organised by the European Handball Federation (EHF) since 1981. It is the second-tier competition of European club handball, ranking only below the EHF Champions League. Previo ...

and the 2017, 2018, 2019 and 2020 Russian Championships. She also won the Russian Cup 5 times in a row from 2017 to 2021 and the Russian Super Cup 5 times in a row from 2016 to 2020. In August 2021 she took a break from professional handball. On March 15, 2022 she made her comeback against

CSKA Moscow CSKA Moscow () is a Russian sports club based in Moscow. It was created in 1911 in the Russian Empire on base of OLLS (Skiing Society, founded 1901). Later, during the Soviet Union, Soviet era, it was the central part of the Armed Forces (sports ...

. Back at the court she won the 2022 Russian championship, scoring 21 goals in the 2 games finals. For the 2022-23 season she joined Norwegian top team

Vipers Kristiansand Vipers Kristiansand was a professional handball club from Kristiansand, Norway. The team competed in REMA 1000-ligaen, the top division in the country, since its promotion in 2001. They claimed their first Norwegian championship in 2018, ending ...

. Here she won the Norwegian Championship in both 2023 and 2024 and the 2023-24 Champions League. Vyakhireva was chosen as the MVP for the

final four In sports, the final four is the last four teams remaining in a playoffs, playoff tournament. Usually the final four compete in the two games of a single-elimination tournament's semi-final (penultimate) round. Of these teams, the two who win in ...

. For the 2024-25 season she joined French team

National team

Youth national teams

Already at the age of 14 in 2009 Vyakhireva particiapted in the 2009 U17 European Championship, where she won silver medals and was selected for the all star team. Two years later she won the 2011 U17 European Championship, and was once again part of the all star team. She also won silver medals at the 2012 U18 World Championship, losing to Denmark in the final 26-27. She was selected as the Tournament MVP. The same year she also participated in the U20 World Championship, where she was selected for the All star team. At the 2013 U19 European Championship she once again won gold medals and was named the tournament MVP. At the 2014 U20 World Championship she won silver medals, and was included in the all star team. A year later she won gold medals at the

2015 Summer Universiade The 2015 Summer Universiade (), officially known as the XXVIII Summer Universiade () and also known as Gwangju 2015 () was a multi-sport event for student and youth athletes sanctioned by the International University Sports Federation (FISU), hel ...

. In the final against South Korea she scored 12 goals.

Senior National team

On 23 October 2013 in a qualification game for the 2014 European Championship, Vyakhireva made her debut for the Russian national team against Germany. At the 2015 World Championship she represented Russia for the first time at a major international tournament. With 52 goals she was the third best scorer at the tournament, tied with Polish Karolina Kudłacz-Gloc. A year later she won gold medals at the

2016 Olympics The 2016 Summer Olympics (), officially the Games of the XXXI Olympiad () and officially branded as Rio 2016, were an international multi-sport event held from 5 to 21 August 2016 in Rio de Janeiro, Brazil, with preliminary events i ...

. With 36 goals and 23 assists, she was one of the best players on the Russian team and was selected as the tournament MVP. The same year she played at the 2016 European Championship, where Russia finished 7th. Vyakhireva was the top scorer on the Russian team. At the 2017 World Championship she was once again a part of the Russian team, which this time went out in the quarterfinals against Norway. A year later she won silver medals at the 2018 European Championship, losing to France in the final. Once again Vyakhireva was the MVP of the tournament, scoring 43 goals in the process. A year later she won bronze medals at the 2019 World Championship. She missed the 2020 European Championship due to a back injury. At the

2021 Olympics The officially the and officially branded as were an international multi-sport event that was held from 23 July to 8 August 2021 in Tokyo, Japan, with some of the preliminary sporting events beginning on 21 July 2021. Tokyo ...

she won silver medals, once again losing to France in the final. With 43 goals Vyakhireva was selected tournament MVP for the second Olympic tournament in a row.

Achievements

Olympic Games The modern Olympic Games (Olympics; ) are the world's preeminent international Olympic sports, sporting events. They feature summer and winter sports competitions in which thousands of athletes from around the world participate in a Multi-s ...

: **''Gold Medalist'': 2016 **''Silver Medalist'': 2020 *

World Championship A world championship is generally an international competition open to elite competitors from around the world, representing their nations, and winning such an event will be considered the highest or near highest achievement in the sport, game ...

: **''Bronze Medalist'':

2019 This was the year in which the first known human case of COVID-19 was documented, preceding COVID-19 pandemic, the pandemic which was declared by the World Health Organization the following year. Up to that point, 2019 had been described as ...

European Championship A European Championship is the top level international sports competition between European athletes or sports teams representing their respective countries or professional sports clubs. In the plural, the European Championships also refers t ...

: **''Silver Medalist'':

2018 Events January * January 1 – Bulgaria takes over the Presidency of the Council of the European Union, after the Estonian presidency. * January 4 – SPLM-IO rebels loyal to Chan Garang Lual start a raid against Juba, capital of ...

Russian Super League The Russian Superleague (, ''Russian Championship Superleague''), commonly abbreviated as RSL, was the highest division of the main professional ice hockey league in Russia. It was considered the second-best league in the world, after the Nation ...

**''Gold Medalist'': 2016, 2017, 2018, 2019, 2020 **''Bronze Medalist'': 2013, 2015 * Russian Cup: **''Winner'': 2014, 2017, 2018, 2019, 2020 **''Runner-up'': 2016 *Russian Supercup: **''Winner'': 2016, 2017, 2018, 2019, 2020 * Norwegian League: **''Gold:'' 2022/2023, 2023/2024 *

Norwegian Cup The Norwegian Football Cup () is the main knockout cup competition in Norwegian football. It is run by the Football Association of Norway and has been contested since 1902, making it the oldest football tournament in the country. The tournament ...

: **''Winner'': 2022/23, 2023/24 *

EHF Champions League The EHF Champions League is the most important club handball competition for men's teams in Europe and involves the leading teams from the top European nations. The competition is organised every year by EHF. The official name for the men's com ...

: **''Winner'': 2022/2023 **''Finalist'': 2018/2019 **''Fourth place'': 2017/2018 *

EHF Cup Winners' Cup The EHF Cup Winners' Cup was the official competition for men's and women's handball clubs of Europe Europe is a continent located entirely in the Northern Hemisphere and mostly in the Eastern Hemisphere. It is bordered by the Arctic Ocea ...

: **''Finalist'': 2014 * European Junior Championship: **''Gold Medalist'': 2013 * World Youth Championship: **''Silver Medalist'':

2012 2012 was designated as: *International Year of Cooperatives *International Year of Sustainable Energy for All Events January *January 4 – The Cicada 3301 internet hunt begins. * January 12 – Peaceful protests begin in the R ...

* European Youth Championship: **''Gold Medalist'':

2011 The year marked the start of a Arab Spring, series of protests and revolutions throughout the Arab world advocating for democracy, reform, and economic recovery, later leading to the depositions of world leaders in Tunisia, Egypt, and Yemen ...

**''Silver Medalist'': 2009

Individual awards

MVP * Most Valuable Player of the Youth World Championship:

* Most Valuable Player of the European Junior Championship: 2013 * Most Valuable Player of the

: 2015/2016, 2019/2020 * Most Valuable Player of the

Summer Olympics The Summer Olympic Games, also known as the Summer Olympics or the Games of the Olympiad, is a major international multi-sport event normally held once every four years. The inaugural Games took place in 1896 in Athens, then part of the King ...

2016 2016 was designated as: * International Year of Pulses by the sixty-eighth session of the United Nations General Assembly. * International Year of Global Understanding (IYGU) by the International Council for Science (ICSU), the Internationa ...

2020 The year 2020 was heavily defined by the COVID-19 pandemic, which led to global Social impact of the COVID-19 pandemic, social and Economic impact of the COVID-19 pandemic, economic disruption, mass cancellations and postponements of even ...

* Most Valuabe Player of the

* Most Valuabe Player of the EHF Champions League Final Four:

2023 Catastrophic natural disasters in 2023 included the Lists of 21st-century earthquakes, 5th-deadliest earthquake of the 21st century 2023 Turkey–Syria earthquakes, striking Turkey and Syria, leaving up to 62,000 people dead; Cyclone Freddy ...

* Most Valuable Player of REMA 1000-ligaen: 2022/2023 All Star Team * All-Star Centre Back of the European Youth Championship: 2009 * All-Star Right Wing of the European Youth Championship:

* All-Star Right Back of the Junior World Championship:

* All-Star Right Wing of the Junior World Championship:

2014 The year 2014 was marked by the surge of the Western African Ebola epidemic, West African Ebola epidemic, which began in 2013, becoming the List of Ebola outbreaks, most widespread outbreak of the Ebola, Ebola virus in human history, resul ...

* All-Star Right Back of the

: 2015/2016, 2018/2019, 2019/2020 * All-Star Right Back of the Champions League:

* All-Star Right Back of the Champions League:

* All-Star Right Back of the

: 2020 * All-Star Right Back of REMA 1000-ligaen: 2022/2023, 2023/2024 Other * Handball-Planet.com Young World Female Player of the Year: 2015/2016, 2016/2017 * Handball-Planet.com All-Star Young Right Back of the year: 2015/2016, 2016/2017 * Handball-Planet.com World Female Player of the Year: 2019 * Handball-Planet.com All-Star Right Back of the Year: 2018, 2019 * EHF player of the month (5): June 2018, October 2018, December 2018, September 2019, December 2019 * REMA 1000-ligaen’s «public favorite»: 2022/2023 * Topscorer of the

: 2023–24 (113 goals)

References

External links

* {{DEFAULTSORT:Vyakhireva, Anna 1995 births Living people Handball players from Volgograd Russian female handball players Olympic medalists in handball Olympic handball players for Russia Olympic gold medalists for Russia Medalists at the 2016 Summer Olympics Handball players at the 2016 Summer Olympics Summer World University Games medalists in handball FISU World University Games gold medalists for Russia Medalists at the 2015 Summer Universiade Handball players at the 2020 Summer Olympics Medalists at the 2020 Summer Olympics Olympic silver medalists for the Russian Olympic Committee athletes Russian expatriate handball players Russian expatriate sportspeople in Norway Russian expatriate sportspeople in France Expatriate handball players in Norway Expatriate handball players in France 21st-century Russian sportswomen Brest Bretagne players