MOSCOW, Feb 15, Pavel Levkovich. Russian figure skater Anna Shcherbakova has a hard time Olympics in Beijing because of the new shoes, said Olympic champion Alexei Yagudin. Russian figure skater Kamila Valieva leads (82.16 points) after a short program at the Olympic Games in Beijing. The second is Anna Shcherbakova (80.20), the third is Japanese Kaori Sakamoto (79.84). Russian Alexandra Trusova (74.60) is in fourth place. «Shcherbakova is going through a tough time because she had to change her shoes a few days ago and have to roll them out. Because of this, we did not see the triple lutz-triple loop combination, Anya did triple lutz — triple sheepskin coat. All the same, you need to do the rest, and she succeeded. Today we judged closely, and according to the protocol we have only two clean skates — for Anya and Sakamoto. The rest made mistakes themselves, revealed ribs, underrotations and so on. in fact, I repeat, out of 30 girls, only two skated cleanly, and Anya is in this deuce, smart girl, «said Yagudin. The Olympic champion also appreciated Trusova's performance. “She could have done a triple axel, but she might not have done it. Today she didn’t, but I said that Sasha should decide. thank you so much to her. She is a very ambitious person. Coming off the ice, she told the coaching staff that she continues to look for a comfortable condition that will allow her to do a triple Axel. Yes, there was a fall, but otherwise she showed good powerful skating, excellent elements and marks. We saw her fall at other competitions, but those who search will definitely find it,» the source added. The skater's free programs will be presented on February 17.
