ATHLETES from the Russian Olympic Committee restated their dominance over figure skating and were crowned at team event yesterday, while China was fifth after qualifying for free skate for the first time at Beijing 2022. The ROC finished first in two of the three competitions featured in free skating — the pairs and women’s singles, and second in ice dancing to collect a total of 29 points yesterday. They had nine points from the men’s singles free skating Sunday. Overall, the Russians scored 74 points in total from the four categories, nine points clear of silver-medalists the United States, who had 65. Japan won the bronze with 63 points. Teenage talent Kamila Valieva came out the first female skater to have completed quadruple jumps on an Olympic rink, delivering a quad Salchow, a combination of 4+3 Toeloop and a quad toeloop during her free skate to Bolero by Maurice Ravel. The 15-year-old claimed a total segment score of 178.92 points to top the women’s free skating standings, with seven jumps of a super high degree of difficulty, while all her spins and sequence were graded to the most, the fourth grade. Having also placed first in the short program, Valieva thus added two full marks of 10 points to bring the ROC’s winning score to 74 points. The United States settled for a silver medal on 65 points, despite leading ice dancing couples Madison Chock/Evan Bates and Madison Hubbell/Zachary Donohue respectively finished on top of the rhythm dance and free dance. Japan stepped onto the Olympic figure skating team event podium for the first time as the bronze medalists after a second-place performance from both the women’s and pairs free skate. (Xinhua) | 