Kamila Valieva of Russia crushed the competition at the ISU Grand Prix Rostelecom Cup Sochi on Saturday to win with 40 points to spare. She led the Russian women to another podium sweep with Elizaveta Tuktamysheva taking the silver medal and Maiia Khromykh the bronze.
Kamila Valieva (RUS) broke her own record score for the Free Skating to take gold in Sochi © International Skating Union (ISU)
Performing to Ravel’s “Bolero”, Valieva owned the ice the second she stepped onto it and reeled off a quadruple Salchow, quad toe-triple toe, quad toe-Euler-double Salchow, triple Axel as well as four triples and difficult spins and footwork that all garnered a level four. The 2020 ISU World Junior Champion broke her own record score for the Free Skating with 185.29 points and total score with 272.71 points.
“I am very happy that I was able to skate well today. There was one little mistake when I did a double Salchow instead of a triple, so it was not yet my maximum,” 15-year-old Valieva said.
“I am glad that I was able to go out calmly and to show what we have worked on. I really enjoyed skating today,” she continued.
Elizaveta Tuktamysheva (RUS) ranked third in the Free Skate but remained in silver medal position © International Skating Union (ISU)
Tuktamysheva landed a triple Axel-double toe, triple Lutz-triple toe as well as four more triples jumps in her routine to modern oriental music. The 2015 ISU World Champion only stepped out of her second triple Axel and scored 149.13 points. She was ranked third in the Free Skating but remained in second place overall on 229.23 points.
“I was a bit tired before my performance, I was fighting for all the jumps and I think the audience and the judges saw it, but I am still happy because the skate was not bad and after this tough week I am going to the Grand Prix Final. Now I just want to rest and sleep,” the 2021 ISU World silver medallist said.
Maiia Khromykh (RUS) posted a personal best in the Free Skate to climb from fifth to third © International Skating Union (ISU)
Khromykh’s performance to “Buenas Aires Hora Cero” and “El Tango de Roxanne” featured a quad toe-double toe combination and six triples and she only stumbled on her solo quad toe. The Grand Premio d’Italia silver medallist posted a personal best with 154.97 points and totalled 219.69 points to pull up from fifth to third.
“I am happy that I was able to fix the mistakes from Italy. The landing of the second quad toe was messy, but I am glad I was able to focus after the Short Program yesterday and was able to show almost my best in the long,” the Muscovite said.
Mariah Bell (USA) delivered an inspiring performance to “Hallelujah” with five clean triples but nevertheless slipped from third to fourth on 210.35 points. Premio d’Italia bronze medalist Loena Hendrickx (BEL) moved up from sixth to fifth with a solid outing on 203.69 points while Madeline Schizas (CAN) dropped from fourth to sixth with 192.14 points.
View the detailed Free Skate classification and Women's final results
