Yulia Vostrikova

Yulia Ivanovna Vostrikova (born 29 October 1990) is a Russian figure skater. She is the 2018 Olympic champion, two time World champion (2016 and 2017), and four time European champion (2015-2018). She is known for her artistry, flexibility and body lines, and musical interpretation.

Personal life
Yulia Vostrikova was born in Leningrad, USSR on 29 October 1990 to Ivan Romanovich Vostrikov, a lecturer at the Leningrad State University (now Saint Petersburg State University), and Irina Petrovna nee Nikolaeva, a nurse. She has an older brother, Nikolai Ivanovich.

Vostrikova is fluent in Russian and English. She has taken classes at Boston University while training there. She has expressed interest in becoming an American citizen, saying in a recent interview, "I want to live here and stay here, not return to Russia."

Early career
Yulia Vostrikova began skating at the age of three, in part to avoid the troubles of the post-USSR period. She first made her mark as a promising talent when she won the 2003 Junior World Championships at the age of 12.

Skating trademarks
Vostrikova is the first skater to receive +3s for spirals under the International Skating Union Judging System (IJS) for "Grade of Execution (GOE)", and was also the first female to break the +130 barrier on a free skate under the IJS. At the beginning of her senior career she was labeled as one in the generation of "Baby Ballerinas" due to her body lines and the ability to point her toes during difficult skating maneuvers such as triple jumps, spiral sequences and footwork. She is known for her 180º arabesque penchée spiral and Charlotte spiral, as well as the variety of positions in her spins. She popularized the I-spin position, which is sometimes informally referred to as the "Yulia spin", due to her exceptional execution of the move.