Feb. 6 (UPI) — Kamila Valieva of Russia stunned fans during her Winter Olympics debut while becoming the fourth woman in the competition’s history to land a triple axel.
Valieva, 15, scored an incredible 90.18 points — 15 points ahead of second-place finisher Wakaba Higuchi of Japan, who scored 74.74 points. Madeline Schizas of Canada came in third with 69.60 points.
The performance by Valieva in the women’s short program solidified Russia’s lead in the team figure skating event after the United States dropped to second place.
Besides the triple axel, Valieva executed a triple flip, a triple Lutz with a triple toe loop as well as level four change foot combination spin, step sequences, a fly camel spin and a layback spin. She performed to the song In Memoriam by Kirill Richter.
“I am thrilled to be at the Olympic Games and I did everything I could today,” she said after the performance, according to a press release. “And I am very happy that I brought maximum amount of points to my team.”
Her teammate Mark Kondratiuk, performing to the song Jesus Christ Superstar from the musical by Andrew Lloyd Webber, came in second place during the men’s single free skating program with a score of 181.65.
Yuma Kagiyama of Japan came in first with a score of 208.94 and Vincent Zhou of the United States came in third with a score of 171.44. Kagiyama became the first skater to ever land a quadruple loop during an Olympic competition.
Zhou’s teammate Karen Chen fell on a triple toe loop and finished fifth in the women’s competition, though the U.S. still holds its second-place ranking ahead of the final programs in the team event Monday.
“I’m definitely disappointed,” Chen told Sports Illustrated after the program.
Zhu Yi, a figure skater representing China who was born in California, also fell and crashed into a wall during her performance to the song Paint It Black — earning just 47.03 points after a 1-point deduction.
She faced harsh criticism from the Chinese public on social media, according to CNN. Within hours, posts about her fall had received 200 million views with comments calling it “disgraceful.”
“I’m upset and a little embarrassed,” a tearful Zhu told CNN after the program. “I guess I felt a lot of pressure because I know everybody in China was pretty surprised with the selection for ladies’ singles and I just really wanted to show them what I was able to do but unfortunately I didn’t.”
Beijing Olympics: figure skating
Russia’s Kamila Valieva stuns during figure skating short program of team event
Source: Philippines Majesty
0 Comments