MOSCOW, February 6, Pavel Levkovich. Russian figure skater Kamila Valieva may be replaced in the free program at the team tournament of the Olympic Games in Beijing, Olympic medalist Irina Slutskaya said. Valieva made her debut at the Olympics on Sunday morning, winning the short program in the team tournament. After her performance, the Russian team became the leader of the competition. «Valieva was wonderful, as always. I think that, most likely, the girls will have a replacement for the free program. There is enough time before the personal competitions, the girls are in an advantageous situation. Even if Valieva will skate two programs and will give all her best — there is still a week before her competitions. There is plenty of time to recover and prove herself in the individual championship,» Slutskaya said. The Olympic medalist also appreciated the performance of Mark Kondratyuk in the free program. «He's a great fellow. Mark made a reserve for the future. We all sadly believe in men's single skating, Kondratyuk showed that it's hard to fight the Japanese and Americans, but we can fight for a medal. Other boys can shoot with us, but Mark put stand in line with the leaders,» she added.
