ANNE-CHRISTINE POUJOULAT/AFP via Getty Images
Amid a firestorm of controversy, Kamila Valieva of the Russian Olympic Committee shockingly failed to medal in women’s singles figure skating at the 2022 Winter Olympics in Beijing on Thursday.
Valieva was the heavy gold-medal favorite, but it was Russian teammate Anna Shcherbakova who took gold with a score of 175.75 in the free skate and 255.95 overall. Russia’s Aleksandra Trusova won silver with a score of 251.73 and Japan’s Kaori Sakamoto took bronze with 233.13.
Here is a rundown of the top 10 finishers in the event, courtesy of NBCOlympics.com:
1. Anna Shcherbakova (ROC): 255.95
2. Aleksandra Trusova (ROC): 251.73
3. Kaori Sakamoto (JPN): 233.13
4. Kamila Valieva (ROC): 224.09
5. Wakaba Higuchi (JPN): 214.44
6. You Young (KOR): 213.09
7. Alysa Liu (USA): 208.95
8. Loena Hendrickx (BEL): 206.79
9. Kim Ye-Lim (KOR): 202.63
10. Mariah Bell (USA): 202.30
A Russian podium sweep seemed almost certain when Valieva became the final skater to take the ice Thursday, but she struggled through a disastrous performance with multiple falls, as Christine Brennan of USA Today described:
Former American Olympic figure skater Polina Edmunds commented on the situation as well:
As a result of her poor performance, Valieva finished off the podium in fourth place, ending her much-maligned run at the Olympics.
For a time, it was unclear if Valieva would be allowed to compete in women’s singles after she tested positive for a banned substance.
According to the Associated Press (h/t ESPN), Russian newspaper RBC reported that the 15-year-old skater tested positive for a banned heart medication prior to the European Championships in January.
The positive test didn’t come to light until after the Russian Olympic Committee won team gold in figure skating in Beijing. Valieva was part of that team, but no medal ceremony has been held, as the International Olympic Committee continues to review the situation.
Valieva received a provisional suspension, and it initially looked as though she would not be permitted to take part in women’s singles at the Olympics, but the suspension was overturned by the Court of Arbitration for Sport.
The decision came with a catch, as the IOC announced no medal ceremony would be held for women’s singles figure skating if Valieva finished in the top three. The IOC said the decision was “in the interest of fairness to all athletes.”
With Valieva failing to medal, there will indeed by a medal ceremony for women’s singles, and it will include two of Valieva’s teammates.
Shcherbakova earned gold with her technical excellence in both the short program and the free skate. She scored a 175.75 in the free skate, which was more than 20 points clear of anyone else aside from Trusova.
Trusova actually had the highest free skate score at 177.13 thanks to the five quadruple jumps she hit. The New York Times provided a breakdown of her skate:
The New York Times @nytimes
Alexandra Trusova of Russia delivered a physics-challenging performance of spins and jumps that had many in the crowd clapping along with her free skate at <a href=”https://twitter.com/hashtag/Beijing2022?src=hash&ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw”>#Beijing2022</a>.<br><br>Here’s a look at her jumps.<a href=”https://t.co/xr7uMJIuWM”>https://t.co/xr7uMJIuWM</a> <a href=”https://t.co/eF7RFI1pkX”>pic.twitter.com/eF7RFI1pkX</a>
While Trusova scoring a massive 106.16 in the technical aspect of the free skate wasn’t enough to beat out Shcherbakova, it played a big role in getting her on the podium.
The United States arrived in Beijing with hopes of a medal in women’s figure skating, but it didn’t come to fruition, as Alysa Liu, Mariah Bell and Karen Chen were all playing catch up after the short program.
Liu finished in seventh place with 208.95 points, Bell was 10th with 202.30 points and Chen came in 16th with 179.93 points.
While it didn’t yield a medal, Bell executed a clean free skate, scoring 136.92 points, which was the eighth-highest score delivered Thursday:
On Her Turf @OnHerTurf
A STUNNING performance from <a href=”https://twitter.com/MariahBell96?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw”>@MariahBell96</a>!<a href=”https://twitter.com/hashtag/WinterOlympics?src=hash&ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw”>#WinterOlympics</a> <a href=”https://t.co/k3a38vOus3″>pic.twitter.com/k3a38vOus3</a>
Even though no American woman medaled in women’s singles for the fourth consecutive Games, it was still a successful Olympics for USA figure skating.
Nathan Chen spectacularly won gold in men’s singles, and Team USA won silver in the team event, although that could conceivably be bumped up to gold at some point depending on what decisions are handed down regarding Valieva.
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