figure skating

Watch Anna Shcherbakova's 2nd Place Worthy Short Program

Russian Olympic Committee skater Anna Shcherbakova placed second in the short program event at the 2022 Winter Olympics despite not performing a triple axel like her Russian teammates.

The 17-year-old, who was the world champion in 2021, opened with a double axel while skating to “Dangerous Affairs” by Inon Zur, an Israeli-American composer. Shcherbakova had one of three clean skates in the entire field, earning herself a score of 80.20.

“I understood that I am skating at an Olympic Games and I wanted to do this skate to the best of my abilities,” said Shcherbakova. "So I am very happy that I was able to accomplish that.”

Skating despite a positive drug test, another ROC skater Kamila Valieva started her pursuit of a second gold medal with a score of 82.16 points on Tuesday. She faltered on her opening triple axel and then made it through the rest of her program.

Kaori Sakamoto of Japan had a score of 79.84 to prevent a 1-2-3 Russian finish in the short program. Alexandra Trusova, the other member of the Russian “Quad Squad,” was fourth with 74.60 points.

Copyright NBC New York/Associated Press
Contact Us