Sofia Stanislavovna Pozdniakova (Russian: София Станиславовна Позднякова, IPA:[sɐˈfʲijəpəzʲnʲɪˈkovə]; born 17 June 1997) is a Russian right-handed sabrefencer, 2018 individual world champion, 2019 team world champion, 2021 individual Olympic champion, and 2021 team Olympic champion.[4] She is a Russian Armed Forces athlete, and her clubs are the Russian Central Sports Army Club and the Novosibirsk Regional Fencing Sports School of Olympic Reserve.[3]
Early life
Pozdniakova was born in Novosibirsk, where she was coached by Sergey Stepankin at the Fencing Center.[5][6] Both of her parents were fencers: her father, Stanislav Pozdnyakov, is a 4-time Olympic champion, 10-time world champion, and 13-time European champion in individual and team sabre, as well as the President of the Russian Olympic Committee since 2018. Her mother, Anastasia, is Master of Sports and secretary at the Fencing Federation of the Novosibirsk Oblast.[7][8] She decided to follow in her parents' footsteps at the age of 10, and abandoned swimming and acrobatic gymnastics.[8]
Pozdiakova studied at the Smolensk State Academy of Physical Culture, Sports and Tourism, and as of 2018 she planned to become a sports journalist in the future.[9] She moved to Moscow in 2015.[1] Since 2016, she has participated for CSKA Moscow.[8]
In September 2020, Pozdiakova married Saratov-based two-time world junior sabre champion and Olympic fencer Konstantin Lokhanov.[10] He emigrated to the United States in 2022 in the wake of the Russian invasion of Ukraine, however, and the couple divorced.[11][12][13][14] She said she was grateful to Lokhanov for many things, but that the two of them had gone in "different directions."[15]
Russian
Tokyo, Japan
Wuxi, China
Budapest, Hungary
Tbilisi, Georgia
Novi Sad, Serbia
Düsseldorf, Germany
Athens, Greece
