The expectations have been sky excessive for Kamila Valieva‘s first quick program on the 2022 Olympics, and to nobody’s shock, she delivered. Competing for the Russian Olympic Committee on Feb. 5, Valieva was the headliner for day two of the team competition, which noticed particular person ladies skaters take the ice for the primary time in Beijing. Valieva holds the world file within the ladies’s quick program and was the heavy favourite to put first. And with the strain on and the highlight shining, Valieva did simply that.
As a determine skater, Valieva is the entire bundle, combining elite leaping talents with such class that she seems to drift throughout the ice. She could not showcase her trademark quad jumps on this routine (quads aren’t but allowed within the ladies’s quick program), so Valieva settled for changing into solely the fourth lady to land a triple axel on the Olympics. She hit all of her jumps together with her arms above her head, including to the issue and pushing her level whole even increased. Valieva regarded emotional as she spun to the end after an almost flawless skate. When her rating of 90.18 got here by, it was simply 0.27 factors shy of her short-program world record set final month on the European Championships.
It was a shining second for Valieva to make her Olympic debut, and necessary for Crew ROC within the standings as properly. Valieva’s first-place end (ROC’s first of the workforce competitors) gave the ROC 10 factors, pushing it into gold-medal place forward of Crew USA after American Karen Chen positioned fifth. These factors might be essential with the lengthy packages and free dance nonetheless to come back. Valieva’s routine additionally gave us a style of what is forward within the ladies’s particular person competitors, the place she’ll once more be favored for gold — particularly if she continues to make tough packages like that look really easy. Watch the routine for your self above.
