Russia, favorites for Olympic gold, take the lead in the figure skating team competition halfway through the Beijing Games after Kamila Valieva’s sparkling performance in the women’s short program on Sunday morning.
Before the four free programs, Russia took the lead with 36 points, ahead of the United States (34 pts) and Japan (29 pts). Canada (24) and China (22) follow.
The Canadians will therefore be able to defend their title of Olympic champions, and this is largely attributable to the brilliant performance of Madeline Schizas during the women’s short program.
The 18-year-old Ontarian, whose first appearance at the Olympics, staggered the crowd on the ice at the Beijing Omnisports Palace. She gave a very clean performance, which allowed her to collect a score of 69.60 and a third place.
The team competition, which started on Friday, continues on Sunday with the men’s free programme. Vincent Zhou for the United States and Yuma Kagiyama for Japan replace Nathan Chen and Shoma Uno respectively. Mark Kondratiuk remains aligned for the team of Olympic athletes from Russia.
The event will conclude on Monday with the last three free programs.
Valieva, 15 years old and until then undefeated for her very first winter as a senior, shone for her first Olympic steps: the pupil of the severe Eteri Tutberidze delivered an impeccable short program, rewarded with 90.18 points. Very close to his world record for points (90.45) established at the European Championships less than a month ago in Tallinn. She thus brought ten points, the maximum possible, to Russia.
Yuzuru Hanyu, double Olympic champion in individual title and in search in Beijing of a hat-trick not achieved for almost a century, therefore reserves for the men’s competition, scheduled for Tuesday and Thursday. The 27-year-old Japanese, who has only competed once this season due to a fresh injury to his right ankle, has yet to appear on Olympic ice, even in training.
