Despite early evidence of talent Fedorkina stopped training in sixth grade because of the harsh discipline, but Gashinskaya, who lived across the street, joined with her mother to badger her into coming back.

She began fencing in the senior category in the 2002–03 season and climbed the podium in her first World Cup competition with a bronze at the Moscow Grand Prix.

[citation needed] In the 2003–04 season Fedorkina won a silver medal at the European Championships in Copenhagen after ceding in the final to Poland's Aleksandra Socha.

At the World Championships held for events absent from the 2004 Summer Olympics programme, Russia won the title in women's team sabre after prevailing over the United States.

Velikaya, Nechayeva, Yekaterina Dyachenko and Fedorkina lost in the quarter-finals to eventual Olympic champions Ukraine, and finished 5th after the classification rounds.