Facing intense scrutiny, Kamila Valieva, the 15-year-old Russian skating star, stumbled out of her opening triple axel however nonetheless gained the girls’s Olympic brief program on Tuesday.
Kamila Valieva struggles along with her triple axel.
Photographs and composite picture by Jeremy White
She is being permitted to compete in the Beijing Games regardless of testing constructive for a banned drug. An arbitration panel dominated that she might face “irreparable harm” by being suspended, on condition that her doping case has not but been resolved.
Valieva, who holds her arms over her head whereas leaping to extend the issue of her routine, rescued 5.26 out of a base worth of 8 factors on the triple axel.
She additionally landed a triple flip and obtained bonus factors for a triple lutz-triple toe mixture bounce carried out in the second half of her 2-minute-40-second brief program. Valieva obtained the highest element, or inventive, scores in the competitors. Her complete rating of 82.16, whereas practically two factors larger than her nearest rival, was eight factors decrease than in the workforce competitors brief program.
Women’s determine skating brief program
Valieva’s coaching associate, Anna Shcherbakova, 17, skated cleanly with out making an attempt a triple axel and completed second. Kaori Sakamoto, 21, of Japan additionally tried a double axel as a substitute of a triple and took third place. The third Russian skater in the occasion, 17-year-old Alexandra Trusova, fell on her tried triple axel however nonetheless managed to carry on to fourth.
Alexandra Trusova falls whereas making an attempt the triple axel.
Doug Mills/The New York Times
The triple axel is the most tough bounce permitted in the brief program. The bounce is difficult as a result of it’s the just one wherein skaters take off in a ahead place. It requires three and a half revolutions to allow them to land in a backward place.
Quad jumps will not be allowed for girls till the lengthy program, which can happen Thursday. Valieva and Trusova every plan to aim a number of quads.