Daria Spiridonova

Daria Nagornaya
Дарья Нагорная
Spiridonova at the 2014 European Championships
Personal information
Full nameDaria Sergeyevna Nagornaya
Alternative name(s)Daria Spiridonova
Nickname(s)Dasha
Born (1998-07-08) 8 July 1998
Height156 cm (5 ft 1 in)
Spouse
(m. 2018)
[1]
Gymnastics career
DisciplineWomen's artistic gymnastics
Country
represented
Russia Russia
(2010–2020)
ClubSambo 70 / Central Army Sports Club (CSKA)[2]
Head coach(es)Tatiana Fomkina[2][3]
Retired17 February 2021
Medal record
Representing  Russia
Olympic Games
Silver medal – second place 2016 Rio de Janeiro Team
World Championships
Gold medal – first place 2015 Glasgow Uneven Bars
Silver medal – second place 2018 Doha Team
Silver medal – second place 2019 Stuttgart Team
Bronze medal – third place 2014 Nanning Team
Bronze medal – third place 2014 Nanning Uneven Bars
European Championships
Gold medal – first place 2015 Montpellier Uneven Bars
Gold medal – first place 2016 Bern Team
Silver medal – second place 2016 Bern Uneven Bars
Bronze medal – third place 2014 Sofia Team
Bronze medal – third place 2014 Sofia Uneven Bars
Summer Universiade
Gold medal – first place 2017 Taipei Team
Gold medal – first place 2017 Taipei Uneven Bars

Daria Sergeyevna Nagornaya (née Spiridonova Russian: Дарья Сергеевна Нагорная née Спиридонова; born 8 July 1998) is a Russian former artistic gymnast. Primarily an uneven bars specialist, she is the 2015 World Champion, the 2015 European Champion, the 2014 World bronze medalist, and a four-time Russian national (2014–17) champion on the apparatus. She represented Russia at the 2016 Summer Olympics, winning a silver medal in the team competition. She was also a member of the gold-medal-winning team at the 2016 European Championships, the silver-medal-winning teams at the 2018 and 2019 World Championships, and the bronze-medal-winning teams at the 2014 World and 2014 European championships.

Gymnastics career

Junior career

Spiridonova made her international debut at the 2012 Pre-Olympic Youth Cup in Bergisch-Gladbach, Germany, where she won the all-around gold medal.

In 2013 she won gold with her team and silver on uneven bars at the Russian Junior Championships. She competed at the Olympic Hopes, winning gold with her team and on uneven bars, bronze in the all-around, and placing fifth on vault.[4] She went on to compete at the KSI Cup, winning gold medals with her team and in the all-around.[5]

2014

Spiridonova's senior debut came at the 2014 Cottbus World Cup, but she did not make any event finals. She then competed at the Russian Championships in April, winning gold on uneven bars, silver with her team and on balance beam, and placing fifth in the all-around, and seventh on floor exercise.[6]

At the 2014 European Championships, Spiridonova competed on uneven bars, balance beam, and floor exercise. She scored 14.900 on uneven bars which qualified her to the event finals in fourth place. She also scored a 14.058 on balance beam and 11.900 on floor exercise after a fall. In the team final, Spiridonova contributed scores of 15.066 on uneven bars, 12.300 on balance beam and 13.100 on floor exercise towards the Russian team's bronze medal finish.

Individually, she won the bronze medal in the uneven bars final with a score of 15.283. In October she placed first ahead of Larisa Iordache at the Arthur Gander Memorial, her first international win at the senior level. Days later, she partnered up with male Russian gymnast Nikita Ignatyev to win her second international title at the Swiss Cup. At the Massila Master, she claimed the first all-around crown of her career.

2015

Spiridonova competed at the 2015 Russian Championships in Penza, Russia. She won silver with her team, as well as placing fourth in the all around, winning gold on the uneven bars, and silver on the balance beam. Due to her strong performance, Spiridonova was selected to compete at the 2015 European Championships in Montpellier, France. She placed thirteenth in the all around final after complications on balance beam and floor exercise. Despite this she went on to win gold on the uneven bars, beating out the reigning European uneven bars champion Becky Downie.

At the 2015 World Championships Spiridonova won gold on uneven bars in an unprecedented four way tie alongside compatriot Viktoria Komova, American Madison Kocian, and Fan Yilin of China.[7]

2016

Spiridonova (second from left) and the Russian team with their Olympic silver medals

Spiridonova competed at the Russian National Championships where she won a silver medal with her team and tied for gold on the uneven bars with Daria Skrypnik. At the conclusion of the National Championships, Spiridonova, along with Aliya Mustafina, Angelina Melnikova, Seda Tutkhalyan, and Ksenia Afanasyeva, was selected to compete for Russia at the 2016 European Championships. She helped Russia qualify to the team final in second place and finished in fourth on the uneven bars with a score of 14.733. Although she originally did not qualify to the final due to two-per-country limitations, she did replace teammate Melnikova in the uneven bars final because of her strength on the event. In the team final she contributed a score of 15.333 on uneven bars, helping Russia win the gold medal with an overall score of 175.212. She won the silver medal on the uneven bars, losing to the Becky Downie.

Spiridonova (center) with the Russian Team at the 2016 Rio Olympics

At the 2016 Russian Cup, Spridonova finished fourth with her team and won bronze on the uneven bars. At the conclusion of the Russian Cup, Spiridonova, along with Mustafina, Tutkhalyan, Melnikova, and Maria Paseka, was selected to represent Russia at the 2016 Summer Olympics in Rio de Janeiro, Brazil. In the midst of the Team Russia Doping Scandal, both the men's and women's gymnastics teams were cleared to compete days before the Games began.

At the 2016 Olympic Games Spiridonova helped Russia qualify to the team final in third place. She also qualified to the uneven bars final in fourth place. In the team final she contributed a score of 15.100 on uneven bars, helping Russia win the silver medal with an overall score of 176.688. In the uneven bars final she fell on one of her transition skills and finished in eighth place.

2018

On 17 October Russia announced the team to compete at the 2018 World Championships and Spirdonova was chosen as the alternate.[8] She received a silver medal with the team behind the USA and ahead of China. On 18 December Spiridonova married fellow Russian gymnast Nikita Nagornyy.[9]

2019

Spiridonova was out for the majority of the season due to a comminuted ankle fracture she sustained in late 2018.[10] In August she returned to competition at the Russian Cup where she only competed on uneven bars and balance beam.[11] She won gold on uneven bars, finishing ahead of 2019 Junior World Uneven Bars Champion Vladislava Urazova and 2019 European Games Uneven Bar Champion Angelina Melnikova.[12] Shortly after the conclusion of the Russian Cup Spiridonova was named to the nominative team for the 2019 World Championships alongside Melnikova, Lilia Akhaimova, Angelina Simakova (later replaced by Maria Paseka),[13] Anastasia Agafonova, and Aleksandra Shchekoldina.[14]

During qualifications at the World Championships she competed on the uneven bars and helped Russia qualify to the team final in third place behind the United States and China. Individually she qualified to the uneven bars final in second place behind reigning World Champion Nina Derwael of Belgium. Despite Valentina Rodionenko's, the head coach of the Russian Women's gymnastics team, low expectations for the team,[15] they won the silver medal in the team final, with Spiridonova contributing the second highest uneven bars score of the day (behind Becky Downie of Great Britain).[16] During the uneven bars final Spiridonova finished in sixth place.

2020

In late January Spiridonova was listed on a nominative roster that was released for the Melbourne World Cup, scheduled to take place on 20 February. While there she placed third on uneven bars behind Diana Varinska of Ukraine and Georgia Godwin of Australia. She later competed at the Baku World Cup; during qualifications she finished fourth on uneven bars and therefore qualified to the event finals.[17] However event finals were canceled due to the 2020 coronavirus outbreak in Azerbaijan.[18]

2021

On 17 February 2021 Spiridonova announced on her Instagram page that she retired from gymnastics.[19]

Awards

Personal life

On December 18, 2018, she married Olympic gymnastics champion Nikita Nagorny. On June 21, 2023, the couple welcomed their first child, a son named Mark.[21]

Competitive history

Competitive history of Daria Spiridonova at the junior level
Year Event Team AA VT UB BB FX
2011 National Championships (CMS) 3rd place, bronze medalist(s) 3rd place, bronze medalist(s) 5
2012 Pre-Olympic Youth Cup 1st place, gold medalist(s)
2013 National Championships (MS) 2nd place, silver medalist(s)
Olympic Hopes 1st place, gold medalist(s) 5 1st place, gold medalist(s)
KSI Cup 1st place, gold medalist(s) 1st place, gold medalist(s)
Competitive history of Daria Spiridonova at the senior level
Year Event Team AA VT UB BB FX
2014 Cottbus World Cup
National Championships 2nd place, silver medalist(s) 5 1st place, gold medalist(s) 2nd place, silver medalist(s) 7
European Championships 3rd place, bronze medalist(s) 3rd place, bronze medalist(s)
Russian Cup 1st place, gold medalist(s) 3rd place, bronze medalist(s) 3rd place, bronze medalist(s) 3rd place, bronze medalist(s)
World Championships 3rd place, bronze medalist(s) 3rd place, bronze medalist(s)
Arthur Gander Memorial 1st place, gold medalist(s)
Swiss Cup 1st place, gold medalist(s)
Massilia Cup (Master Massilia) 2nd place, silver medalist(s) 1st place, gold medalist(s) 1st place, gold medalist(s)
2015 National Championships 2nd place, silver medalist(s) 4 1st place, gold medalist(s) 2nd place, silver medalist(s)
European Championships 13 1st place, gold medalist(s)
Rusudan Sikharulidze tournament 1st place, gold medalist(s)
Russian Cup 1st place, gold medalist(s) 1st place, gold medalist(s) 3rd place, bronze medalist(s) 3rd place, bronze medalist(s) 6
World Championships 4 1st place, gold medalist(s)
Toyota International Cup 1st place, gold medalist(s) 5
2016 DTB Pokal Team Challenge Cup 1st place, gold medalist(s)
National Championships 2nd place, silver medalist(s) 7 1st place, gold medalist(s) 5
European Championships 1st place, gold medalist(s) 2nd place, silver medalist(s)
Russian Cup 4 3rd place, bronze medalist(s)
Olympic Games 2nd place, silver medalist(s) 8
Elite Gym Massilia (Master) 1st place, gold medalist(s) 6 5
2017 Reykjavik International Games 2nd place, silver medalist(s)
National Championships 1st place, gold medalist(s) 7 1st place, gold medalist(s) 8
DTB Pokal Team Challenge Cup 1st place, gold medalist(s)
City of Jesolo Trophy 3rd place, bronze medalist(s) 18 7
Universiade 1st place, gold medalist(s) 8 1st place, gold medalist(s) 8
2018 National Championships 1st place, gold medalist(s) 11
Russian Cup 14 6
World Championships 2nd place, silver medalist(s)[a]
Cottbus World Cup 4
Toyota International 1st place, gold medalist(s)
2019 Russian Cup 1st place, gold medalist(s) 8
World Championships 2nd place, silver medalist(s) 6
2020 Melbourne World Cup 3rd place, bronze medalist(s)
Baku World Cup 4
  1. ^ Spiridonova was the Team RUS alternate.

References

  1. ^ "Daria Spiridonova and Nikita Nagornyy got married". 18 December 2018.
  2. ^ a b Daria Spiridonova at World Gymnastics
  3. ^ Daria Spiridonova profile Archived 18 January 2020 at the Wayback Machine (in Russian)
  4. ^ "2013 Olympic Hopes Results". The Gymternet. 21 June 2013.
  5. ^ "2013 KSI Matsz Cup Results". The Gymternet. 23 November 2013.
  6. ^ "Daria Spiridonova winning uneven bars and taking second on balance beam". Retrieved 6 April 2014.
  7. ^ "A four-way tie on Uneven Bars and plenty of other firsts as event finals begin at Glasgow Worlds". International Gymnastics Federation. 31 October 2015.
  8. ^ "Russian Teams for Worlds Announced". Gymnovosti. 17 October 2018.
  9. ^ "Daria Spiridonova And Nikita Nagornyy Got Married". Gymnovosti. 18 December 2018.
  10. ^ "Daria Spiridonova opened up about her injury". Gymnovosti. 23 October 2019.
  11. ^ "Russian Cup – schedule and links". 22 August 2019.
  12. ^ "2019 Russian Cup Results". The Gymternet. 28 August 2019.
  13. ^ "Гимнастка Пасека заменит травмированную Симакову в составе сборной России на ЧМ". TASS (in Russian). 24 September 2019.
  14. ^ "Назван состав сборной России по спортивной гимнастике на ЧМ в Штутгарте". ru sport (in Russian). 27 August 2019.
  15. ^ "Родионенко не ожидает высоких результатов от россиянок на ЧМ по спортивной гимнастике". TASS (in Russian). 3 October 2019.
  16. ^ "US women top Russia, Italy to win team title at Stuttgart Worlds". International Gymnastics Federation. 8 October 2019. Archived from the original on 16 August 2022. Retrieved 8 October 2019.
  17. ^ "2020 Baku World Cup Results". The Gymternet. 13 March 2020.
  18. ^ "Finals of Baku World Cup cancelled". International Gymnastics Federation. 13 March 2020.
  19. ^ "Я УШЛА ИЗ СПОРТА❤️". Instagram (in Russian). 17 February 2021.
  20. ^ "Указ Президента Российской Федерации от 25.08.2016 № 429 «О награждении государственными наградами Российской Федерации»". Archived from the original on 26 November 2016. Retrieved 8 August 2020.
  21. ^ "В семье гимнастов Нагорных родился первенец". РИА Новости Спорт (in Russian). 21 June 2023. Archived from the original on 24 June 2023. Retrieved 24 June 2023.