Daria Romanovna Usacheva (pronounced Usachyova; , born 22 May 2006) is a retired 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 ...

. She is the

2021 Skate America The 2021 Skate America was the first event of the 2021–22 ISU Grand Prix of Figure Skating: a senior-level international invitational competition series. It was held at the Orleans Arena in Las Vegas, Nevada, from October 22–24. Medals were a ...

silver medalist. On the junior level, she is the 2020 World Junior silver medalist, the 2019–20 Junior Grand Prix Final bronze medalist, the 2019

Denis Ten Memorial Challenge The Denis Ten Memorial Challenge is an annual figure skating competition sanctioned by the International Skating Union (ISU), organized and hosted by the Denis Ten Foundation in Kazakhstan. The competition debuted in 2019 and is named in honor of ...

champion, and the 2020 Russian junior national bronze medalist.

Personal life

Usacheva was born in

Khabarovsk Khabarovsk ( ) is the largest city and the administrative centre of Khabarovsk Krai, Russia,Law #109 located from the China–Russia border, at the confluence of the Amur and Ussuri Rivers, about north of Vladivostok. As of the 2021 Russian c ...

on 22 May 2006. Her

figure skating 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 Figure skating at the 1908 Summer Olympi ...

idol is her training mate, 2018 Olympic champion

Alina Zagitova Alina Ilnazovna Zagitova ( rus, Алина Ильназовна Загитова, , ɐˈlʲinə zɐˈɡʲitəvə; born 18 May 2002) is a Russian former competitive Figure skating, figure skater. She is the Figure skating at the 2018 Winter Oly ...

Career

Early years

Usacheva began learning how to skate in 2009 at the age of three in her native

. After moving to Moscow with her family, Usacheva trained for several years in the group of Oksana Bulycheva at Sambo 70. After parting ways with Bulycheva, she trained under Anna Tsareva for a year before finally moving into

Eteri Tutberidze Eteri Georgievna Tutberidze (Georgian language, Georgian: ეთერი გიორგის ასული თუთბერიძე; ; born 24 February 1974) is a Georgian-Russian figure skating coach who works mainly with female single s ...

's group within the same training complex.

2019–2020 season: Junior international debut

Usacheva made her junior international debut in September 2019 at the 2019 JGP Latvia. She placed first in the short program at the event, but fell to third in the free skate to finish second overall behind South Korean skater Lee Hae-in. At her second Junior Grand Prix assignment, 2019 JGP Croatia, Usacheva duplicated her result from JGP Latvia, again earning a silver medal behind Lee Hae-in. In light of her results, and with 26 qualifying points in hand, Usacheva advanced to her first

Junior Grand Prix Final The ISU Junior Grand Prix Final (titled the ISU Junior Series Final in the 1997–98 season) is the final event of a series of junior-level competitions – the ISU Junior Grand Prix – organized by the International Skating Union (ISU). Medal ...

. Usacheva next competed in the junior ladies category at the inaugural

where she won both the short program and the free skate to earn her first international gold medal ahead of training mate

Maiia Khromykh Maya or Maiia Vladislavovna Khromykh (; born 25 May 2006) is a Russian figure skater. She is the 2021 Gran Premio d'Italia silver medalist, the 2021 Rostelecom Cup bronze medalist, the 2021 CS Warsaw Cup champion, and the 2021 Budapest Trophy ...

in second and Bulgarian competitor

Maria Levushkina Maria Levushkina (; born 18 July 2004) is a Bulgarian figure skater. She is a two-time Bulgarian junior national champion (2019–20) and competed in the final segment at the 2020 World Junior Championships. Personal life Levushkina was bor ...

in third. In December 2019, Usacheva competed at the 2019–20 Junior Grand Prix Final in

Torino Turin ( , ; ; , then ) is a city and an important business and cultural centre in northern Italy. It is the capital city of Piedmont and of the Metropolitan City of Turin, and was the first Italian capital from 1861 to 1865. The city is main ...

, Italy. She set new personal best scores in both the free skate (despite errors) and overall to win the bronze medal behind gold medalist and training mate

Kamila Valieva Kamila Valeryevna Valieva ( ; born 26 April 2006) is a Russian figure skater. She is the 2021 Rostelecom Cup champion, the 2021 Skate Canada champion, the 2020 Junior World champion, the 2019-20 Junior Grand Prix Final champion and the 2021 ...

and American silver medalist

Alysa Liu Alysa Liu (born August 8, 2005) is an American figure skater. She is the 2025 World champion, 2022 World bronze medalist, 2021 Nebelhorn Trophy champion, 2021 Lombardia Trophy champion, and a two-time U.S. national champion (2019, 2020). At ...

. In an interview with Sports.ru following the event, Usacheva stated that she'd begun training a triple axel and that she hoped to debut the element at the 2020 Russian Junior Figure Skating Championships in February 2020. Usacheva did not compete again until the 2020 Russian Junior Figure Skating Championships where she won the bronze medal behind training mates

and

Sofia Akatieva Sofia Dmitrievna Akateva (, born 7 July 2007) is a Russian figure skater. She is the 2023 Russian champion. At the junior level, she is the 2021 JGP Russia champion, the 2021 JGP Poland champion, a two-time Russian junior national champion (2 ...

. Usacheva executed both of her programs cleanly for the first time in competition all season, and due to her result was named to the Russian team for the 2020 World Junior Championships in March along with Valieva and training mate and fifth-place finisher

, as silver medalist Akatieva and fourth-place finisher

Sofia Samodelkina Sofia Vladimirovna Samodelkina (; born 18 February 2007) is a Russian-Kazakhstani figure skater who currently competes for Kazakhstan. She is the Kazakhstani Figure Skating Championships, 2025 Kazakh national champion, Figure skating at the 2025 ...

were ineligible due to age. Usacheva was the sole skater among the top five to not attempt a triple axel or quadruple jump. At the 2020 World Junior Championships in

Tallinn Tallinn is the capital city, capital and List of cities in Estonia, most populous city of Estonia. Situated on a Tallinn Bay, bay in north Estonia, on the shore of the Gulf of Finland of the Baltic Sea, it has a population of (as of 2025) and ...

, Estonia, Usacheva placed third in the short program behind training partner

and Lee Hae-in of South Korea after under-rotating the second jump in her triple flip-triple toeloop combination. In the free skate, Usacheva delivered a clean performance for the first time internationally to rise to second place behind Valieva and ahead of American

, setting new personal bests in the free skate and overall. Usacheva and Lee were the only two skaters in the top five to not attempt a triple axel or quadruple jump.

2020–21 season

Usacheva made her senior domestic debut at the second stage of the Russian Cup in Moscow. She placed second after the short program and third in the free skate behind teammate Kamila Valieva and former teammate

Alexandra Trusova Alexandra "Sasha" Vyacheslavovna Ignatova (née Trusova; rus, Александра Вячеславовна Игнатова née Трусова, , ɐlʲɪˈksandrə ˈtrusəvə; born 23 June 2004) is a Russian figure skater. She is the 2022 O ...

, skating two clean programs and earning the bronze medal. At the third stage in

Sochi Sochi ( rus, Сочи, p=ˈsotɕɪ, a=Ru-Сочи.ogg, from – ''seaside'') is the largest Resort town, resort city in Russia. The city is situated on the Sochi (river), Sochi River, along the Black Sea in the North Caucasus of Souther ...

, she led

Anna Shcherbakova Anna Stanislavovna Shcherbakova (Russian language, Russian: Анна Станиславовна Щербакова, born 28 March 2004) is a Russian figure skater. She is the reigning Figure skating at the 2022 Winter Olympics, Olympic champi ...

after the short program and finished second in the free skate and overall after a fall from a triple flip-triple toeloop combination. Usacheva's results qualified her to the 2021 Russian Championships, where she placed third in the short program, behind Shcherbakova and Valieva but narrowly ahead of Trusova. Fourth in the free skate, she dropped to fourth place overall, the highest-ranked skater who did not attempt a

quadruple jump A quadruple jump or quad is a figure skating jump with at least four (but fewer than five) revolutions. All quadruple jumps have four revolutions, except for the quadruple Axel jump, Axel, which has four and a half revolutions. The quadruple toe ...

. Following the national championships, Usacheva participated in the 2021 Channel One Trophy, a televised team event organized in lieu of the cancelled

European Championships 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 ...

. She was selected for the Red Machine team captained by

, and placed third in the short program and fourth in the free skate. The Red Machine won the trophy. Subsequently she also participated in the Russian Cup Final, where she won the bronze medal.

2021–22 season: Senior international debut

Usacheva debuted her programs for the Olympic season along with her fellow Russian national team members at the 2021 Russian test skate event in September. She mentioned in an interview with

Channel One Russia Channel One ( rus, Первый канал, r=Pervý kanal, p=ˈpʲervɨj kɐˈnal, t=First Channel) is a Russian Television in Russia, federal television channel. Its headquarters are located at Ostankino Technical Center near the Ostankino To ...

at the event that she'd suffered a minor injury two weeks before that affected her preparation for the season, as well as her work towards attaining a

triple Axel The Axel jump or Axel Paulsen jump, named after its inventor, Norwegian figure skater Axel Paulsen, is an edge jump performed in figure skating. It is the sport's oldest and most difficult jump, and the only basic jump in competition with a forw ...

. Due to travel restrictions caused by the

COVID-19 pandemic The COVID-19 pandemic (also known as the coronavirus pandemic and COVID pandemic), caused by severe acute respiratory syndrome coronavirus 2 (SARS-CoV-2), began with an disease outbreak, outbreak of COVID-19 in Wuhan, China, in December ...

, there was some concern over whether or not Usacheva and several of her compatriots would be able to obtain travel visas to the

United States The United States of America (USA), also known as the United States (U.S.) or America, is a country primarily located in North America. It is a federal republic of 50 U.S. state, states and a federal capital district, Washington, D.C. The 48 ...

in a timely enough manner to compete at the first

Grand Prix ( , meaning ''Grand Prize''; plural ''Grands Prix'') most commonly refers to: * Grand Prix motor racing, a form of motorsport competition ** List of Formula One Grands Prix, an auto-racing championship *** Monaco Grand Prix, the most prestigious ...

event of the season, the

. Fortunately, she and the rest of the Russian delegation were able to obtain proper documentation two weeks ahead of the event in order to attend. At

Skate America Skate America is an annual figure skating competition sanctioned by the International Skating Union (ISU), organized and hosted by U.S. Figure Skating. The first Skate America was in held in 1979 in Lake Placid, New York, as a test event fo ...

, Usacheva's senior international debut, she cleanly skated her short program to score a new personal best and place second in the segment behind training-mate

. In the free skate, Usacheva struggled technically in the latter half of the program and fell to fourth in the segment, but her lead from the short was enough to keep her on the podium with the silver medal overall behind Trusova and ahead of South Korean competitor

You Young You Young (; born May 27, 2004) is a South Korean figure skater. She is the 2020 Four Continents Figure Skating Championships, 2020 Four Continents silver medalist, a four-time ISU Grand Prix of Figure Skating, Grand Prix bronze medalist, a f ...

. Usacheva entered her second Grand Prix, the

2021 NHK Trophy The 2021 NHK Trophy was the fourth event in the 2021–22 ISU Grand Prix of Figure Skating, a senior-level international invitational competition series. It was held at the Yoyogi National Gymnasium in Tokyo on November 12–14. Medals were award ...

, as one of the favorites for the gold medal following Trusova's withdrawal due to injury. However, in the warm-up for the short program she injured herself while attempting a triple flip, and was forced to withdraw from the event as well.

Match TV Match! TV () is a Russian free-to-air federal sports television channel owned by Gazprom Media. The channel began broadcasting on November 1, 2015, and had been created in accordance with the order of Russian president Vladimir Putin, with the a ...

initially reported that she was suffering from a

hip fracture A hip fracture is a break that occurs in the upper part of the femur (thigh bone), at the femoral neck or (rarely) the femoral head. Symptoms may include pain around the hip, particularly with movement, and shortening of the leg. Usually ...

, but in subsequent

Russian Figure Skating Federation The Figure Skating Federation of Russia () is the national sport governing body for figure skating in Russia. It is recognized as such by the Russian Olympic Committee (ROC) and the International Skating Union (ISU). No individual membership exist ...

announced that Usacheva suffered detachment of the ligament of one of the internal muscles of the right upper leg in the growth zone of the femur and that was not considered to be a long-term problem. Nevertheless, the injury prevented Usacheva from competing at the 2022 Russian Championships in December. She returned to training in March 2022. Usacheva announced her retirement from competitive figure skating on 7 September 2023. After that she became a coach at

Adelina Sotnikova Adelina Dmitriyevna Sotnikova ( ; born 1 July 1996) is a retired Russian figure skater. She is the 2014 Olympic gold medalist in ladies' singles, a two-time European silver medalist (2012, 2013), a two-time Rostelecom Cup bronze medalist (20 ...

figure skating school.

Programs

2019-2020 ISU Junior Grand Prix Final Daria Usacheva 2019 12 05 0827

Competitive highlights

Legend

Detailed results

''Small medals for short and free programs awarded only at ISU Championships. Personal bests highlighted in'' bold.

Senior level

Junior level

2019-2020 ISU Junior Grand Prix Final Daria Usacheva 2019 12 06 1498

References

External links

*
Daria Usacheva entered the top ten figure skaters of modern Russia
{{DEFAULTSORT:Usacheva, Daria 2006 births Russian female single skaters Living people People from Khabarovsk World Junior Figure Skating Championships medalists 21st-century Russian sportswomen