Irina Viktorovna Lobacheva (; born 18 February 1973) is a Russian former competitive ice dancer. With partner and former husband Ilia Averbukh, she is the 2002 Olympic silver medalist, the 2002 World champion and the 2003 European champion.

Career

Lobacheva and Averbukh teamed up in 1992 after falling in love while skating in the same group but with different partners. After the Goodwill Games in the summer of 1994 their coaches moved to Delaware, USA, with many of their students to train at the

University of Delaware The University of Delaware (colloquially known as UD, UDel, or Delaware) is a Statutory college#Delaware, privately governed, state-assisted Land-grant university, land-grant research university in Newark, Delaware, United States. UD offers f ...

. A year later, Lobacheva / Averbukh joined them. In September 2001, Lobacheva injured her left knee in training, causing them to miss the Grand Prix season. They won the silver medal at the 2002 Olympics behind Marina Anissina / Gwendal Peizerat. Lobacheva / Averbukh won gold at the 2002

World Championships 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 ...

and at the 2003

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 ...

. They retired from competition at the end of the 2002–2003 season. She appeared in three seasons of the ice show contest ''

Ice Age An ice age is a long period of reduction in the temperature of Earth's surface and atmosphere, resulting in the presence or expansion of continental and polar ice sheets and alpine glaciers. Earth's climate alternates between ice ages, and g ...

''.

Personal life

Lobacheva and Averbukh married in 1995. Their son, Martin, was born in 2004. They divorced in 2007.

Programs

(with Averbukh)

Results

With Averbukh

With Pospelov

References

External links

*
Official website of Lobacheva and Averbukh
{{DEFAULTSORT:Lobacheva, Irina 1973 births Living people Russian female ice dancers Figure skaters at the 2002 Winter Olympics Figure skaters at the 1998 Winter Olympics Olympic figure skaters for Russia Olympic silver medalists for Russia Figure skaters from Moscow Olympic medalists in figure skating World Figure Skating Championships medalists European Figure Skating Championships medalists Medalists at the 2002 Winter Olympics Winter World University Games medalists in figure skating Goodwill Games medalists in figure skating Season-end world number one figure skaters FISU World University Games gold medalists for Russia Competitors at the 1995 Winter Universiade Competitors at the 1994 Goodwill Games