Daria Usacheva

Usacheva began learning how to skate in 2009 at the age of three in her native Khabarovsk. After moving to Moscow with her family, Usacheva trained for several years in the group of Oksana Bulycheva at Sambo 70. After parting ways with Bulycheva, she trained under Anna Tsareva for a year before finally moving into Eteri Tutberidze's group within the same training complex.[6]

Usacheva made her junior international debut in September 2019 at the 2019 JGP Latvia. She placed first in the short program at the event, but fell to third in the free skate to finish second overall behind South Korean skater Lee Hae-in. At her second Junior Grand Prix assignment, 2019 JGP Croatia, Usacheva duplicated her result from JGP Latvia, again earning a silver medal behind Lee Hae-in. In light of her results, and with 26 qualifying points in hand, Usacheva advanced to her first Junior Grand Prix Final.

Usacheva next competed in the junior ladies category at the inaugural Denis Ten Memorial Challenge where she won both the short program and the free skate to earn her first international gold medal ahead of training mate Maiia Khromykh in second and Bulgarian competitor Maria Levushkina in third.

In December 2019, Usacheva competed at the 2019–20 Junior Grand Prix Final in Torino, Italy. She set new personal best scores in both the free skate (despite errors) and overall to win the bronze medal behind gold medalist and training mate Kamila Valieva and American silver medalist Alysa Liu.[7] In an interview with Sports.ru following the event, Usacheva stated that she'd begun training a triple axel and that she hoped to debut the element at the 2020 Russian Junior Figure Skating Championships in February 2020.[6]

Usacheva did not compete again until the 2020 Russian Junior Figure Skating Championships where she won the bronze medal behind training mates Kamila Valieva and Sofia Akatieva. Usacheva executed both of her programs cleanly for the first time in competition all season, and due to her result was named to the Russian team for the 2020 World Junior Championships in March along with Valieva and training mate and fifth-place finisher Maiia Khromykh, as silver medalist Akatieva and fourth-place finisher Sofia Samodelkina were ineligible due to age. Usacheva was the sole skater among the top five to not attempt a triple axel or quadruple jump.

At the 2020 World Junior Championships in Tallinn, Estonia, Usacheva placed third in the short program behind training partner Kamila Valieva and Lee Hae-in of South Korea after under-rotating the second jump in her triple flip-triple toeloop combination.[8] In the free skate, Usacheva delivered a clean performance for the first time internationally to rise to second place behind Valieva and ahead of American Alysa Liu, setting new personal bests in the free skate and overall. Usacheva and Lee were the only two skaters in the top five to not attempt a triple axel or quadruple jump.[9]

Usacheva made her senior domestic debut at the second stage of the Russian Cup in Moscow. She placed second after the short program and third in the free skate behind teammate Kamila Valieva and former teammate Alexandra Trusova, skating two clean programs and earning the bronze medal. At the third stage in Sochi, she led Anna Shcherbakova after the short program and finished second in the free skate and overall after a fall from a triple flip-triple toeloop combination.[10]

Usacheva's results qualified her to the 2021 Russian Championships, where she placed third in the short program, behind Shcherbakova and Valieva but narrowly ahead of Trusova.[11] Fourth in the free skate, she dropped to fourth place overall, the highest-ranked skater who did not attempt a quadruple jump.[12]