Right behind her were her countrymen – second Anna Szczerbakowa and fourth Aleksandra Trusowa, and among them the Japanese Kaori Sakamoto was in third place. Walijewa, who was the favorite before the free program, did not withstand the pressure, however.
Walijew did not make it in the final. Error for error and no medal
It was not possible to make quadruple jumps in the short program, which were the main advantages of the Russian women, which they used on Thursday. Aleksandra Trusowa, who made as many as five such jumps in the free program, rode brilliantly, thanks to which she obtained the best score for this part of the competition (177.13).
This allowed her to move to second place. Thanks to the advantage in the short program, she was slightly overtaken by Anna Szczerbakowa, who rode beautifully, but in the program she had only two quadruple jumps. The Japanese Kaori Sakamoto, who did not try to quadruple jumps at all, was without a chance to compete with them. The program went so well that it found itself right behind the Russians.
The whole classification, however, depended on the last one on the starting list. The 15-year-old Russian woman could not withstand the pressure. She had two falls and ended the competition not only without gold, but also without a medal at all.
The excitement of the ride made her cry. So there was no Russian podium, which it promised, although gold and silver went to the players from Russia. The winner was Anna Szczerbakowa before Aleksandra Trusowa, and the bronze medal was won by Japanese Sakamoto.
The Polish representative, Jekaterina Kurakowa, achieved a great promotion thanks to a free program. It took 12th place in it and despite the 24th position after the short program, it jumped to the 12th position in the general classification. This is the second best result of the Polish skater at the Olympics after Anna Rechnio, who was tenth in Lillehammer in 1994.
Controversies related to Walijew
j. A 15-year-old Russian girl became the first competitor in the history of the Olympics to successfully perform a four-fold jump. Thanks to her phenomenal performance, Russian athletes won gold. Or rather: they were supposed to win because the medal ceremony did not take place. An illegal substance – trimetazidine was detected in the body of the Russian woman. The sample was taken on December 25, but the result was not released until February 8. However, the Russian woman was already at the Olympics then.
However, the temporary suspension was lifted by RUSADA, the Russian Anti-Doping Federation. This decision was appealed against by the IOC (International Olympic Committee), as well as WADA (World Anti-Doping Agency) and ISU (International Ice Union).
Source: Sport
Tristin is an accomplished author and journalist, known for his in-depth and engaging writing on sports. He currently works as a writer at 247 News Agency, where he has established himself as a respected voice in the sports industry.
