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Russia wins gold in team figure skating as Kamila Valieva hits two quad jumps.



Russia won the team figure skating competition behind the performance of the 15-year-old phenomenon Kamila Valieva, whose history-making free skate on Monday included the first two quadruple jumps landed by a woman at an Olympics.

The United States won the silver medal after taking bronze in the past two Winter Olympics, the only other times the team event has been held. Japan finished third.

Valieva won both the short program and free skate during the team event, powering the Russians to victory and previewing what could be an unstoppable performance in the women’s singles competition next week. She nearly set a world record for points in the women’s short program on Sunday and won by more than 15 points, skating’s equivalent of a mile.

Karen Chen, the American who finished a surprise fifth in the short program on Sunday, bounced back from her mistakes on Monday, though she still had trouble with the triple loop. She finished fourth in the free skate.

The U.S. team’s joy over winning the silver medal was tempered by bad news from U.S. Figure Skating. Just before the Americans climbed onto the medals stand, the skating federation announced that Vincent Zhou, who helped the team win the silver, had tested positive for the coronavirus and was awaiting confirmation tests. If the follow-up tests are also positive, Zhou, a two-time Olympian and the only skater to beat his fellow American Nathan Chen in the past three and a half years, will miss the men’s event, which starts with the short program on Tuesday.

Figure Skating: Team Event  ›

Score

Gold


ROC flag
Russian Olympic Committee
74

Silver


USA flag
United States
65

Bronze


JPN flag
Japan
63
4

CAN flag
Canada
53
5

CHN flag
China
50

Teams receive 10 points for a first-place finish, nine points for second place and so on.

The Russians, however, celebrated their team victory without such worries.

The Russian pairs team of Anastasia Mishina and Aleksandr Galliamov won their free skate on Monday — even after collapsing onto the ice in a dramatic fall during one lift. At the other end of the pairs leaderboard were the Americans Alexa Knierim and Brandon Frazier, whose mistake-laden performance landed them fifth out of five pairs.

Image
Credit...Chang W. Lee/The New York Times

The ice dancers Madison Chock and Evan Bates won the free dance for the United States — with Chock playing the part of an alien — and put the Americans solidly in second place heading into the women’s free skate. But the Russians’ lead was already too great for the United States to overtake them.

The team competition adds up scores from men’s and women’s singles skaters, pairs and ice dancers; points are awarded based on the order of finish (10 for first, 9 for second and so on).

Image
Credit...Chang W. Lee/The New York Times
Image
Credit...Chang W. Lee/The New York Times
Image
Credit...Chang W. Lee/The New York Times

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By: Juliet Macur
Title: Russia wins gold in team figure skating as Kamila Valieva hits two quad jumps.
Sourced From: www.nytimes.com/2022/02/06/sports/olympics/roc-kamila-valieva.html
Published Date: Mon, 07 Feb 2022 06:05:29 +0000

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