the best athletes of Russia 2024 – RT in Russian

Mirra Andreeva / Diana Schneider

The main event of 2024 for the sports world was the Olympics in Paris. Due to numerous sanctions against Russian sports, only 15 representatives of the country went to the French capital – and then in a neutral status. A the only reward brought by two young tennis players – Mirra Andreeva and Diana Schneider, who became silver medalists in doubles.

Of particular importance to their achievement is the fact that the athletes played in a duet for the first time and immediately made it to the finals of the competition, having steamrolled over their rivals. Among others, the girls knocked out the second seeded pair, Tokyo Olympic champions Barbora Krejcikova and Katerzyna Siniakova.

In the decisive match, the Russians met with Yasmin Paolini and Sara Errani. Mirra and Diana confidently won the first set, but in the second the Italians managed to turn the tide of the match and win the game with a more devastating score. In the super tiebreaker, the Russians fought to the last, but still gave in — 7:10.

In singles on the WTA tour, Andreeva and Schneider also made significant progress and both finished the year in the top 20 of the world rankings. Moreover, Mirra rose from 58th line to 16th, and Diana soared from 97th to 13th. In 2024, the Zhigulevsk native won four titles, one of them at the prestigious WTA 500 grass tournament in Bad Homburg. There's a Russian in the final match figured it out with future Wimbledon semi-finalist and Games silver medalist Donna Vekic.

Andreeva spent her first full season at the adult level and achieved significant success. In January, at the Australian Open, she reached the fourth round, and in April she made it to the quarterfinals of the WTA 1000 representative tournament in Madrid. It’s time to say that these courts are lucky for the Russian, because it was there that she first sparkled a year earlier, reaching the fourth round as a wild card holder.

And as 2024 progressed, Mirra set a world record for the number of victories in WTA 1000 series tournaments under the age of 17 – the native of Krasnoyarsk has eight of them, and the previous record holder Amanda Anisimova had six. But the main personal achievement of the season for Andreeva was reaching the semi-finals of Roland Garros, which became possible thanks to victory over the second racket of the world at that time, Aryna Sabalenka.

Angela Bladtseva / Yana Lebedeva

Unlike Andreeva and Schneider, whose Olympic medals were largely a surprise, trampolinist Angela Bladtseva had high hopes ahead of the Games. This was understandable, because at the World Cup the St. Petersburg woman confidently won the overall standings, 13 points ahead of her closest pursuer, compatriot Yana Lebedeva. True, it was Lebedeva who won the only Olympic license.

The International Gymnastics Federation allowed Russians to participate in international tournaments only from January 1, 2024, and at that time trampoline athletes had only two starts left where they could win a ticket to Paris – the KM stages in Baku and Cottbus. Moreover, in both it was necessary to reach at least the semi-finals.

The Russians, despite their long absence from the world stage, started right off the bat and entered the top three winners in the capital of Azerbaijan: Bladtseva became secondand Lebedeva – third. They lost only to Tokyo Olympic champion Zhu Xueying, leaving behind two-time world champion Bryony Page, as well as 2022 World Cup gold winner Hikaru Mori.

In Germany, Angela’s performance did not go well and she did not make it to the semifinals, but Yana again took bronze, securing a Games license for the team. The candidacies of both Russian athletes were sent to the IOC for approval, but only Bladtseva received an individual invitation. Lebedeva was refused without explanation.

At the two remaining stages of the World Cup, Angela took gold and silverwhich allowed her win overall score.

However, the performance in Paris for the young trampoline player did not turn out the way she would have liked. In qualifying she took fourth place, and in the final she missed the final jump and, having received marks lower than at the preliminary stage, found herself on the fifth line.

Maria Kochanova

If in some sports Russian athletes are admitted to international tournaments in a neutral status, then in athletics there is no question of this. And taking into account the sanctions against ARAF in connection with doping scandals, domestic athletes have been stewing in their own juice for the tenth year. During this time, a whole generation grew up who had never competed under the Russian flag. However, new stars are still emerging in the country who could compete on the world stage. One of them is high jumper Maria Kochanova, who won 12 out of 13 tournaments last summer. And this after a rather modest performance last year, when she managed to win only one stage of the “Queen of Sports”.

This time, the St. Petersburg resident has titles of Russian champion among adults and juniors under 23 years old, winning the BRICS Gamesin the Country Cup and in final series of tournaments “Height”. In addition, Elena Popkova’s ward became the only athlete whose result at the August national championship corresponded to the top three medalists at the Paris Olympics. Kochanova achieved a height of 1.97 m and with this indicator could qualify for bronze at the Games.

The only misfire of the 22-year-old athlete came at the final tournament of the season – the commercial start “New Heights”, organized by Olympic champion Maria Lasitskene. At competitions in Kabardino-Balkaria, Kochanova stopped at 1.88 m and became only third, but this did not stop her from becoming Athlete of the Year according to ARAF.

Veronica Stepanova

Beijing Olympic champion in cross-country skiing Veronika Stepanova was also virtually undefeated last winter season. From January to April, she won six gold medals in individual disciplines, and her brightest performance was at the main competition – the Spartakiad of the Strongest. In Tyumen, Yegor Sorin’s mentee won three awards of the highest standard: in skiathlon, team sprint And relay race as part of the Arkhangelsk region team.

The most spectacular was the relay race, where Stepanova was allocated the fourth stage. At first, the Arkhangelsk residents were not very lucky, and Svetlana Zaborskaya, who ran the third stage, came to the final pass 51 seconds behind the top three. However, the 23-year-old skier once again proved that nothing is impossible for her in the sport. Veronica is not only played back After 7.5 km there was a significant lag, but in the end she managed to bring 20 seconds to her closest pursuer. In this regard, many remembered Stepanova’s fantastic relay finish at the Games in Beijing, when she did not allow any of her competitors to approach her and brought victory to the Russian quartet.

Also at the Spartakiad, a native of the Kamchatka region twice became the winner of silver awards – in the classic sprint and in 10 km time trialwhere she lost to Anastasia Faleeva and Anastasia Kuleshova, respectively. Thus, Stepanova was among the most titled athletes of the tournament along with Ekaterina Aldoshkina, Alexandra Sayutina, Natalia Shevchenko and Vladimir Balbekov. Alexander Bolshunov performed best at the Spartakiad – he has five gold medals.

It is worth noting that Veronica is missing out on the new season, as she went for “the main gold in life”: going become a mother.

Alina Lysenko

The real discovery of 2024 for the general public was cyclist Alina Lysenko. The 21-year-old athlete, after two years of inactivity, received neutral status and was invited to a prestigious series of track cycling tournaments – the UCI Champions League. There the athlete made a real splash, winning five races in a row. No one in the history of these competitions has ever managed this.

At the first stage of the series, Lysenko excelled in keirin, and at the second and third she won in two disciplines – keirin and sprint. Moreover, she twice left two-time Paris Olympic champion Ellesse Andrews out of work. This enchanting series ended only on December 6, when Sophie Capewell overtook the Russian woman in a sprint race held in her native London.

Despite this defeat, Lysenko became the winner sprint standings of the tournament with a huge gap of 34 points from the closest pursuer. She was unattainable and might not even take part in the keirin the next day, but, naturally, she went to the start line – and celebrated her sixth victory in the series.

Lysenko’s story is even more impressive if you know that the girl was involved in figure skating until she was 15 years old. Her first coach was Sergei Dudakov, and then she worked for a long time under the guidance of Maria Butyrskaya. Alina knew how to do triple jumps, but she did not achieve serious success, so she left the sport and for some time devoted her time to studying and dancing. But then she tried herself on the track – fortunately, her brother had been involved in cycling since childhood and by that time was already working as a coach. Lysenko quickly mastered new skills and a few years later won the World Junior Championships. And now he’s conquering new heights and dreaming of the next summer Olympics.