A RUSSIAN Olympic swimming champion is fighting for her life after her clothes caught fire at her luxury Moscow flat.

Maria Shurochkina, a double gold medallist and 11-time world champion, was rushed to hospital with horrific burns after the incident involving a bioethanol fireplace.

Doctors are battling to save the synchronised swimming star amid fears of potentially fatal complications including burn shock, dehydration and infection.

Her condition was first described as “moderate” but deteriorated to “serious”, reported Russian Telegram channel Mash.

Shurochkina suffered acute damage to the skin on her head, neck, chest, abdomen, arms and hands.

There are fears of that she may have suffered “tissue necrosis” — the death of damaged skin and underlying tissue.

Shurochkina was refilling a bioethanol fireplace in her luxury four-bedroom penthouse on the 17th floor of the residential complex in western Moscow.

Flammable vapours reportedly ignited, setting her clothes on fire.

Shurochkina was then found screaming and writhing in pain on the stairwell.

An ambulance rushed her to Moscow’s Sklifosovsky Emergency Research Institute.

Shurochkina is one of Russia‘s most decorated synchronised swimmers, winning Olympic gold in Rio de Janeiro in 2016 and again at the Tokyo Games held in 2021.

Vladimir Putin awarded her the Order of Friendship in 2016 and the Order of Honour in 2021.

After retiring from competitive swimming four years ago, Shurochkina became an entertainer, appearing in elaborate aquatic theatre productions and pursuing a career in dance.

Earlier this year, she performed at Moscow’s prestigious State Kremlin Palace in a spectacular production choreographed by dancer Ildar Gainutdinov.

“I felt like a lost child who didn’t know where to go or what to do next,” she said of her retirement from top sport.

Her half-sister Nyusha, real name Anna Shurochkina, is one of Russia’s biggest pop stars.

The sisters won the second season of the Russian reality television show Treasures of the Emperor in 2025.

The Russian Aquatic Sports Federation confirmed Shurochkina’s hospitalisation and said officials had contacted both the hospital and her family.

“We wish Maria strength and a speedy recovery,” the federation added.

Dr. Denis Prokofyev warned that recovery from severe burns requiring skin grafts could take up to a year.