Teenage Russian figure skater makes striking Olympic debut

Fifteen-year-old Kamila Valieva lit up the ice on her Olympic debut on Sunday, soaring through her short program in the team figure skating competition and hinting at the record-breaking feats that are to come.

“I was little nervous going into the competition,” said Valieva, one of three Russian skaters hailing from the famous Sambo-70 club in Moscow who are expected to sweep the medals in the women’s individual competition.

“I am thrilled to be at the Olympic Games and I did everything I could today. And I am very happy that I brought maximum amount of points to my team.”

She is aiming to succeed compatriot and fellow 15-year-old Alina Zagitova, who made history in Pyeongchang by packing all 11 jump elements into the second half of her programme in order to earn extra percentage points, a quirk of the scoring system which was subsequently changed as a result.

Zagitova has taken a step back from her skating career since Pyeongchang, citing motivational issues, and enabling the Sambo-70 trio of Valieva, Anna Shcherbakova and Anna Trusova to assert their dominance.

In the men’s free skate section of the competition, Yuma Kagiyama of Japan emerged as a genuine threat to the big two, Nathan Chen and Yuzuru Hanyu, posting a score of 208.94 to give his country hope of overhauling Russia when the team event concludes on Monday.