This Russian Olympic figure skater has a full 'Sailor Moon' routine

Josh Martin

Before she became a silver medalist in team figure skating at the 2018 Winter Olympics in PyeongChang, Evgenia Medvedeva was “Sailor Moon”… sort of.

Back in April 2017, Medvedeva, who’s competing in South Korea as an Olympic Athlete from Russia, concluded her brilliant showing at the ISU World Team Trophy in Tokyo with an exhibition routine from “Sailor Moon,” entitled “Moonlight Densetsu.” The then-17-year-old’s ode to her favorite anime didn’t count toward her record-setting scores in the short program or free skate, let alone Team Russia’s silver-medal finish, but it did inspire one YouTuber to stitch together this side-by-side comparison of her performance and the cartoon source material.

Medvedeva has a knack for putting together creative skates. During that same competition, she became the first woman ever to break 160 points in a ladies’ free skate with a routine based on the movie “Extremely Loud and Incredibly Close,” replete with audio from 9/11.

In PyeongChang, Medvedeva earned an impressive score of 81.61—a world record that stood until her OAR teammate, 15-year-old Alina Zagitova, broke it—for her short program performance, which she said was built on the theme of “clinical death.”

If Medvedeva’s penchant for opening eyes on the ice is any indication, her free skate at the Gangneung Ice Arena on Friday morning (Thursday night in the United States) should be one to watch.

Evgenia Medvedeva of Russia performs during the gale exhibition of the World Team Trophy Figure Skating in Tokyo, Sunday, April, 23, 2017. (AP Photo/Shizuo Kambayashi)
Evgenia Medvedeva of Russia performs during the gale exhibition of the World Team Trophy Figure Skating in Tokyo, Sunday, April, 23, 2017. (AP Photo/Shizuo Kambayashi)

More Olympic coverage from Yahoo Sports:
• Adelson: U.S. women’s hockey caps new legacy with Olympics gold
• Passan: American halfpipe duo earns medals to match their tattoos
• Wetzel: How U.S. women’s hockey smiled in the face of enormous pressure
• Busbee: One road ends as another begins for Shiffrin, Vonn
• North Korea to troll South Korea, USA again at closing ceremony