Irina Davydova 27-May-1988

Irina Davydova 27-May-1988

Irina Andreyevna Davydova (Russian: Ирина Андреевна Давыдова; born 27 May 1988, Alexandrov) is a Russian athlete who competes in the 400 metres hurdles with a personal best time of 53.77 seconds.

Davydova won the gold medal at the 2012 European Athletics Championships in Helsinki

 Biography 

She began running in her home town of Alexandrov at the age of 12, under the tutelage her coach Aleksandr Sychev. Her parents were cross-country skiers.

At junior level, she won no national championships, but did represent her club, Luch Moscow, at two European Junior Champion Clubs Cups, winning gold on both occasions.

Her breakthrough came at under 23 level, when she won gold in the 400 m hurdles in 2009 in a time of 56.14. This led to her representing Russia at the 2009 U23 European Championships. Following this, she moved to Moscow and was coached by Nikolay Chemerisov. In 2010, she competed in the Russian senior nationals, finishing in seventh. The next year, she improved to bronze, with a new personal best of 55.48. Because she didn't run a fast enough time to compete at the World Championships, she was instead sent to the 2011 Universiade, where she won silver.

In 2012, she ran the 400 m without hurdles during the indoor season, qualifying for the World Indoor Championships. Her increased flat speed helped at the European Championships that year, where she won the gold medal in the 400 m hurdles, setting a new personal best.

She studied law at the Modern Academy of Humanities.