Russian figure skater Anna Shcherbakova won gold at the Beijing Olympics. The athlete skated her program without errors, performed two quadruple jumps cleanly and scored 175.75 points (255.95 points in total).
Photo: screenshot from broadcasts of the TV channel «Russia 1»
Shcherbakova is the current world champion and three-time champion of Russia. She has two silver medals at the European Championships and a silver medal at the Grand Prix Final in the 2019/20 season.
Russian Alexandra Trusova, who declared five quadruple jumps in her program, became the first figure skater in the world to perform such a difficult content in competitions. For the free program, she received 177.13 points (in total — 251.73 points), which allowed her to become the second.
Photo: screenshot from broadcasts of the Russia 1 TV channel
Kamila Valieva finished fourth despite winning the short program. In the free program, Valieva made mistakes, including two falls, and scored 141.93 points (224.09 points in total).
Kaori Sakamoto from Japan, who after the short program was Ё in third place, won bronze (233.13 points).
Earlier, the International Olympic Committee (IOC) said that due to the situation with Valieva's doping test, her result at the Olympics would be considered preliminary. The IOC also decided not to hold a medal ceremony for figure skaters if Valieva gets into the top three.
In addition, Match TV reported that Valiyeva might not be allowed to participate in demonstration performances at the Olympics. However, the International Skating Union assured that the Russian figure skater would take part in demonstrations if she was on the podium.