A 15-year-old figure skating phenomenon has made history after becoming the first woman to land a quad jump in Olympic competition.
Russian teen sensation Kamila Valieva executed not one but two successful quadruple salchow turns during her free skate routine in the team event, as the ROC eased its way to the gold medal ahead of the United States.
Valieva, who only made her senior figure skating debut six months ago, has frequently landed the move in competitions, but with her team already guaranteed the gold, this was her first chance to display it in Olympic competition, making her the first woman in history to do so at a Winter Olympics.
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In all, Valieva made three attempts at the quadruple salchow, falling on her final effort. She also successfully pulled off a triple Axel jump, and in doing so became just the fourth woman in history to land the move at an Olympics.
Valieva's performance in Monday's short program— in which she is the world record holder — scored more than 30 points higher than the second-best score, which was awarded to Japan's Kaori Sakamoto. A day prior, she had missed out on breaking her own world record by just 0.27 points.
Since making her senior competition debut, Valieva has set record after record, and is the first and only female skater to have broken the 90-point mark in the short program, per the BBC.
She's previously said that her short program skate is in memory of her grandmother, who died in 2019.
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In comments to Reuters following her achievement, Russian former skater Nikita Katsalapov said, 'All the best qualities of a figure skater come together in this fragile girl. She motivates the whole team… It’s just a pleasure to watch her performances. She improves from one competition to the next.'
'I’m having a hard time finding the proper words but she is absolutely mesmerising,' one commentator said after watching her routine, adding, 'She can inspire the world with performances like that.'
Later this week, it's expected men's figure skating legend and defending Olympic champion Yuzuru Hanyu may attempt to become the first man in history to land a quadruple Axel jump, as he tries to become the first person in almost a century to win three consecutive men's figure skating Olympic gold medals.
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Hannah Smith