15-year-old takes OAR’s first gold
Alina Zagitova put in a superb performance to win Olympic gold. Photograph: Damir Sagolj/Reuters
Alina Zagitova put in a superb performance to win Olympic gold. Photograph: Damir Sagolj/Reuters

(BBC) – FIFTEEN-year-old Alina Zagitova won the first gold for the Olympic athletes from Russia at the 2018 Winter Olympics in the women’s single figure skating.

She followed her short programme world record 82.92 with 156.65 points in the free dance to finish 1.31 points ahead of compatriot, Evgenia Medvedeva.

Skating last, Medvedeva, 18, looked to have done enough to overhaul Zagitova but the judges scored their free dance routines equally in Pyeongchang.
Canada’s Kaetlyn Osmond took bronze.

OAR have now won 14 medals at these Games, while Zagitova is the second youngest women’s figure skating champion in history after American Tara Lipinski in 1998.
“I need some time to understand that I won the Olympic Games,” said Zagitova.

“I knew I didn’t have any room for errors. My hands were shaking, but my body remembered what I’ve been doing many times in practice.”

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