Facing intense scrutiny, Kamila Valieva, the 15-year-old Russian skating star, stumbled out of her opening triple axel but still narrowly won the women’s Olympic short program on Tuesday.
Kamila Valieva’s triple axel jump, frame by frame. Photographs and composite image by Jeremy White
She is being permitted to compete in the Beijing Games despite testing positive for a banned drug. An arbitration panel ruled that she could face “irreparable harm” by being suspended, given that her doping case has not yet been resolved.
Valieva, who holds her arms over her head while jumping to increase the difficulty of her routine, rescued 5.26 out of a base value of 8 points on the triple axel.
She also landed a triple flip and received bonus points for a triple lutz-triple toe combination jump performed in the second half of her 2-minute-40-second short program. Valieva also received the highest component, or artistic, scores in the competition. Her total score of 82.16, while nearly two points higher than her nearest rival, was eight points lower than in the team competition short program.
Women’s figure skating short program
Kamila Valieva
Anna Shcherbakova
Kaori Sakamoto
Alexandra Trusova
Valieva’s training partner, Anna Shcherbakova, 17, skated cleanly while landing a double axel instead of attempting a triple. She received a higher score than Valieva for her triple lutz-triple toe combination jump and finished second.
Triple
Toe Loop
Triple Lutz
Triple
Toe Loop
Triple
Lutz
Triple
Lutz
Triple
Toe Loop
Anna Shcherbakova’s triple lutz-triple toe jump, frame by frame. Photographs and composite image by Weiyi Cai
Kaori Sakamoto, 21, of Japan also landed a solid double axel, along with a triple lutz, to take third place. The third Russian skater in the event, 17-year-old Alexandra Trusova, fell on her attempted triple axel but still managed to hold on to fourth.
Kaori Sakamoto in the short program. Joe Ward/The New York Times
The triple axel is the most difficult jump permitted in the short program. The jump is challenging because it is the only one in which skaters take off in a forward position. It requires three and a half revolutions so they can land in a backward position.
Quad jumps are not allowed for women until the long program, which will take place Thursday. Valieva is expected to attempt three quads in the free skate and Trusova as many as five, while Shcherbakova will attempt at least one. In the team competition, Valieva became the first woman to land a quad at the Olympics.
For some skaters, like Trusova, who has helped lead the quad revolution, the triple axel can be more vexing than a four-rotation jump. She has never landed one in competition.
Alexandra Trusova attempting the triple axel. Doug Mills/The New York Times
If the three Russian training partners sweep the medals after the free skate, this would be only the third time that skaters from the same country have won gold, silver and bronze in the same Olympics.
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How Kamila Valieva Stumbled and Still Won the Women's Short Program - The New York Times
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