Lilia Akhaimova

Akhaimova competed at the 2017 Summer Universiade, earning team gold, as well as the silver on vault and bronze on floor.

On 20 July, Akhaimova was named to the Russian team to compete at the 2018 European Championships alongside Angelina Melnikova, Angelina Simakova, Irina Alexeeva, and Uliana Perebinosova.[2] They won gold in the team final and individually Akhaimova placed fifth on vault.[3]

On September 29, Akhaimova was named on the nominative team to compete at the 2018 World Championships in Doha, Qatar alongside Alexeeva, Melnikova, Aliya Mustafina, and Simakova.[4] On October 17, the Worlds team was officially announced and was unchanged from the nominative team.[5]

At Worlds, Akhaimova competed on vault and floor during the qualification rounds and was tasked with competing for the same two events during the team final. Despite crashing her Rudi vault in the final, Akhaimova rallied with a strong floor exercise to help Russia win the silver medal behind the United States and ahead of China.

Akhaimova also competed in the floor final, where she placed seventh.

In July Akhaimova competed at the 2019 Summer Universiade alongside Tatiana Nabieva and Perebinosova. In the team final, Akhaimova contributed scores on vault, beam, and floor, helping Russian win the silver behind Japan.[6] Individually Akhaimova won bronze in the all-around behind Hitomi Hatakeda of Japan and teammate Perebinosova.[7] The following day, she won the silver medal on vault, behind Marina Nekrasova of Azerbaijan and just ahead of teammate Nabieva.[8] Despite qualifying in first to the floor final, Akhaimova finished sixth in the final after counting a fall on her piked double Arabian. The Russians were the most decorated female artistic gymnastics team at the Universiade, winning eight medals. They were also the only team to win medals on every event.

In August Akhaimova competed at the Russian Cup. After two days of competition she finished fourth in the all-around competition, behind Vladislava Urazova, Angelina Melnikova, and Elena Gerasimova.[9] On the first day of event finals Akhaimova won gold on vault, finishing ahead of Melnikova. On the second day of event finals she won bronze on floor exercise, finishing behind junior competitors Urazova and Gerasimova. Shortly after the conclusion of the Russian Cup Akhaimova was named to the nominative team for the 2019 World Championships alongside Melnikova, Daria Spiridonova, Anastasia Agafonova, Angelina Simakova (later replaced by Maria Paseka),[10] and Aleksandra Shchekoldina.[11]

During qualifications she helped Russia qualify to the team final in third place behind the United States, and China. Individually she qualified to the all-around, vault, and floor exercise finals. Despite Valentina Rodionenko's, the head coach of the Russian Women's gymnastics team, low expectations for the team,[12] they won the silver medal in the team final with Akhaimova contributing scores on three apparatuses.[13] During the all-around final Akhaimova fell numerous times and finished 22nd in the competition.

In November Akhaimova competed at Elite Gym Massilia where she placed fourth in the all-around and second on vault, behind Jennifer Gadirova of Great Britain.[14]

In January it was announced that Akhaimova would represent Russia at the American Cup, taking place on March 7.[15] However, in late February Akhaimova and Nikita Nagornyy announced on Instagram that Russia withdrew from the upcoming competition due to the escalation of coronavirus worldwide.[16] In late September it was announced that Akhaimova would be competing at an upcoming competition in Hiroshima to take place in November alongside Angelina Melnikova, Elena Gerasimova, and Yana Vorona.[17]