Sochi Winter Olympic 2014

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Vanessa-Mae slowest in giant slalom to place 67th and last of the finishers at Sochi 2014 Winter Olympics

Vanessa-Mae made her eagerly awaited debut on the Olympic skiing stage here today, offering a performance which was tame, safe, a rare old struggle and very, very slow. Still, it was one which evidently delighted the international superstar musician.
The 35 year-old London-raised pop violinist, competing for Thailand as Vanessa Vanakorn, using her Thai father's surname, reckoned her performance was "rock and roll" as she finished easily last of all the finishers in the giant slalom.
Yet, in truth, she took the safety-first route down the piste, seemingly keeping as far away from the slalom gates as possible and looked comfortably the least daring and accomplished of the 90 competitors on view. Still, she must have brought some stardust with her because it actually started to snow at Rosa Khutor for the first time at the Games at the start of for her second run.
As she said, her great accomplishment was simply finishing the race on a wretched day of rain, mist and then, miraculously, the heavy snow which at one point made her think she was going to get lost on the course. Of the scheduled starters, 23 either pulled out or did not finish.

Over the two legs, she clocked a combined total of 3min 26.97sec, which was over 11 seconds slower than the next worst finisher and over 50 seconds adrift of the champion, Tina Maze, who added the giant slalom title to the downhill crown gold she won in a dead heat.
The 87th starter on a miserable wet day as the course got ever more slushy in Rosa Khutor, Mae manoeuvred fairly gingerly down the slopes, evidently thinking the best policy amid the poor visibility would be just to get to the bottom first time around which, to be fair to her, 15 other skiers with a more ambitious approach had failed to do.
Still, one suspected Maze could have whipped round the gates playing a violin and still got down quicker than Vanessa-Mae but it did not stop the 35-year old dreamer celebrating, thrusting her poles to the skies in delight when she finished.
The clock on the first run showed that she was 7.83sec slower than the next worst competitor to complete the course as she finished the first of the day's two slalom races in 1min 44.86sec in 74th and last place. Up ahead, Maze appeared like a different athlete competing in practically a different race.
Nothing could dampen Mae's delight, though. "With my limited experience at my age - I only started training six months ago - I'm just glad I made it down," she beamed afterwards. "It was rock and roll at times - I nearly crashed out three times - but I'm happy. I grew up in London so I'm afraid I brought the weather with me."
Indeed, the weather had not been kind for her Olympic debut with rain lashing down at Rosa Khutor - and there was some doubt even whether the second run would be cancelled later in the day as the snow started to come down heavily and forced a delay.
When she finally kicked out of the gate a mite hesitantly, a decent crowd had remained in their seats to watch the petite figure in the orange helmet bobbing down the slopes for her first run. Mae was pretty upright for much of her run, getting nowhere near the gates which other skiers were brushing, before gaining a bit of confidence and getting into the tuck with the line in sight.

 

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Professional violinist and Thailand's only downhill skier Vanessa-Mae, who said she was "delighted" after finishing in last place in the women's event at Sochi.

Sochi 2014: Vanessa-Mae calls herself a 'mad old woman'

The 35-year-old, competing for Thailand in the giant slalom under her father's name - Vanakorn - came last of the 67 finishers on a rain-sodden day.

"You've got the elite skiers of the world and then you've got some mad old woman like me trying to make it down."
The musician, who has sold 10 million albums worldwide, only started training for the Games six months ago but the world number 2,253 achieved qualification last month.
She finished 27 seconds back after her first run and last of the 74 who made it to the bottom out of a starting field of 89.
"With my limited experience at my age I'm happy I made it down," she said. "It was kind of rock and roll, because I nearly crashed out three times."
In her second run, Vanessa-Mae was two seconds quicker than her first but still 11 seconds slower than China's Lina Xia, the racer above her in the standings.

A skier since the age of four, she has wanted to compete in the Olympics for the past 21 years.
Made her international professional musical debut at the age of 10 in 1988 and the same year made her concerto debut.
Released her first album, Violin, when she was 13 years old.
She has amassed worldwide record sales in excess of 10 million.
"It was marginally better," she said. "The first run I was just so unprepared for the feeling of speed. I just do not have that need for speed in my body.
"It was so sweet: the crowd, the atmosphere, the people shouting, 'Go Vanessa'. I just wanted to turn around and say 'thank you, guys'.
"This is the Olympic spirit and to be just a small part of it for a few days is special.
"I am shy and I sort of shuffle around the canteen looking at all these amazing skiers and they are really friendly. They sidle up to you and say 'hi' and we talk about music and sport.
"But there's no pressure on me - I am 35 and I only took up racing a few months ago. There is no pressure, only really good spirit. If you do everything when you're young you leave no fun until the end."
Slovenia's Maze revealed she chatted to Vanessa-Mae earlier this week and said it "did not matter" that the violinist was 50 seconds adrift.
"I have huge respect for what she is doing in music," said Maze. "It's great she is here."
Vanessa-Mae was born in Singapore to a Chinese mother and Thai father, but was brought up in London and now lives in the Swiss Alpine resort of Zermatt.
She became only the third person to represent Thailand at the Winter Olympics.

 

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Born in Singapore , live in England, but fly under Thai flag.

Why can't the mother convince her to fly singapore flag to go last in GS. It will be perfect.

 

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Born in Singapore , live in England, but fly under Thai flag.

Why can't the mother convince her to fly singapore flag to go last in GS. It will be perfect.

Tot i saw dick lee..

 

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Born in Singapore , live in England, but fly under Thai flag.

Why can't the mother convince her to fly singapore flag to go last in GS. It will be perfect.

I remember Vanessa performed in one National Day celebration.

 

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South Korea's Yuna Kim looks to defend gold in women’s figure skating: DiManno
SOCHI, RUSSIA—She arrived with a regal imperiousness, trailing what must surely have been the entirety of the South Korean media corps.
Every word Yuna Kim speaks is recorded. Every move she makes documented.
The 23-year-old defending Olympic women’s figure skating champion is the biggest celebrity in her country and one of the richest female athletes in the world, No. 6 on the Forbes list with estimated annual earnings of $14 million, with Korean Air and Samsung endorsement contracts in her handbag. Yet, in a gesture toward equality, Kim waved off first-class travel from the Korean carrier and flew into Sochi in coach, with the rest of her two female teammates.
So prominent a persona has Kim become that she was instrumental in Korea’s successful bid to host the Pyeongchang Winter Games in 2018.
Four years ago, Kim was steered to gold by coach Brian Orser. She’d lived and trained in Toronto. No definitive explanation was ever given for why she suddenly parted company with the Orser after the Vancouver Games. Of course, he mined gold again here with men’s champion Yuzuru Hanyu of Japan.
With pairs, men’s and ice dance wrapped up, all eyes now turn to the ladies competition which begins Wednesday evening, short followed by free skate the following night.
No woman since Katarina Witt (1984 and 1988) has won back-to-back Olympic titles and the only other female to accomplish the feat was Sonja Henie, who actually took gold in three straight Games, 1928 through 1936.
Yet little was seen of Kim in the past year. She missed the Grand Prix season because of a foot injury and competed in only one other small international event. She’s the reigning world champion as well but it’s difficult to handicap her odd of repeating in Sochi.
The pressure is immense and there are some serious challengers to Queen Yuna’s crown’s: 15-year-old phenomenon Julia Lipnitskaia — ingénue European champion, possessor of the highest total score achieved this season with a whopping 209.72 points, and utterly adored by the Russian citizenry. The astonishingly flexible Lipnitskaia topped the women’s competition in the team event last week, helping Russia nail gold, before fleeing back to Moscow to train away from the crush of cameras.
Many of the leading females did the same thing, including Canadian titleholder Kaetlyn Osmond, recently returned from Mannheim, Germany.
“I feel really good and well-rested,” said the 18-year-old, Newfoundland’s first Olympian, now a bit Games-wise after skating both her short and long in the team event. “I knew I’d already gotten the programs out there on Olympic ice and then I had the chance to come down from the high. I feel a lot more comfortable now and I have the chance to rebuild the excitement from before.”
Also training far from prying eyes were American hopefuls Ashley Wagner and Gracie Gold. The U.S. has won more women’s gold at the Games than any other nation, with seven. No Russian woman has ever won it.
Hot on Kim’s tail should be Grand Prix champion Mao Asada of Japan — the only female brave enough try a triple Axel here, silver in Vancouver — and Carolina Kostner of Italy, world silver medallist.
“I heard a lot about Julia Lipnitskaia,” Kim told reporters after practice the other day, somewhat dismissively. “She just debuted in the senior level, but this is my last Olympic Games. I think the experience is different for both of us. Every athlete tries their best. I don’t want to mention anyone specifically before the Games.
“For me, I am not focusing on winning the gold medal twice. I am focusing more on taking part in the Olympic Games rather than winning twice.”
As if.
Kim’s program this evening, Send in the Clowns, was choreographed by Toronto’s David Wilson. “The music was her idea,” says Wilson, who also crafted Kim’s long routine. “When she told me, I said, ‘Wow, really? Well, I just happen to have a gorgeous program for that.’”
It’s been a while since anybody has told Kim what to do.
In Sochi, she will not have the Lipnitskaia-besotted crowd behind her. Kim shrugged that off too.
“The Olympic Games are in Russia and each country supports their own skaters. It does not matter to me.”

 

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Julia Lipnitskaia, Russian figure skating’s ‘tiny genius’
SOCHI, Russia — Five days of competition remain in the Sochi Olympics, but the host nation already has anointed its champion of the Winter Games.

She is the tiniest athlete among them, 15-year-old Julia Lipnitskaia, who led Russia to gold in figure skating’s inaugural team event Feb. 9, received a congratulatory pat on the head from President Vladimir Putin and within days was bestowed with Russia’s highest sporting tribute, the Honored Master of Sports award.

And Garbo-like, Lipnitskaia retreated to a private rink in Moscow to resume her Olympic training as her legend grew.

“Lipnitskaia is a goddess,” proclaimed the headline of a major Russia newspaper.

“Lipnitskaia is the princess of the ice,” gushed another headline.

“Lipnitskaia is the future of figure skating,” yet another declared.

But there was so much substance behind the grandiose declarations that Lipnitskaia’s teammates, who had helped earn Russia’s team gold and could just as easily have resented the praise heaped upon her, only smiled.

“She is,” Russian ice dancer Ekaterina Bobrova said, “a tiny genius.”

Lipnitskaia returns to Sochi’s Iceberg Skating Palace on Wednesday for the start of the women’s competition.

There is no dispute about her technical skill. Lipnitskaia opens both her short and free-skate programs with an exceedingly difficult triple Lutz-triple toe combination, displays breathtaking flexibility on her spins and cleverly tucks several high-risk jumps in the second half of her performances to collect bonus points.

And there’s no indication that she’ll buckle under pressure. In January she became the youngest woman to win the European championships. During Sochi’s team event, she had the full weight of the world’s biggest country on her shoulders. While many countries, including the United States, tapped two different skaters to perform the short and long women’s program, Russia tasked Lipnitskaia with both. And on successive nights she won each, earning the maximum points for her country — a feat even four-time Olympian Evgeni Plushenko failed to do for the motherland, finishing second in the men’s short and first in the long.


“What she does as an athlete is very incredible,” said Alexandria’s Ashley Wagner, 22, a two-time U.S. champion who is making her Olympic debut. “To be 15 and to be at the Olympics, it either really works for you or it really works against you. I was 16 at my first world championships, and it really worked against me. So the fact that she has come in here and been so focused and has her eye on the prize — that’s very admirable for a 15-year-old. She’s wise beyond her years.”

With her part in Russia’s team championship, Lipnitskaia became the youngest female figure skater in 78 years to win Olympic gold. If she wins the individual gold, awarded after Thursday’s free skate, she’ll be the first Russian woman to do so. Despite its rich figure skating tradition, Russia has never had an Olympic champion in the women’s event — largely because its most promising female skaters were funneled into pairs or dance under the former Soviet system.

Lipnitskaia is hardly the lone gold medal contender at the Sochi Games. The women’s field is daunting and deep, led by defending Olympic champion Kim Yu-na of South Korea and 2010 Olympic silver medalist Mao Asada, regarded as a level above their rivals when healthy and in-form.


Freshly minted U.S. champion Gracie Gold, 18, has made impressive strides since she started working with Frank Carroll, who coached Michelle Kwan and Evan Lysacek to Olympic medals. Wagner is a battle-tested scrapper, with Grand Prix podium finishes to prove it. And 15-year-old Polina Edmunds is a wild card for the U.S., with an array of difficult jumps that catapulted her to silver at nationals last month.

With so many women capable of technically rigorous programs, the difference between gold and silver may well come down to subjective factors that defy strict analysis.

How much will the emotion of the predominantly Russian crowd at the 12,000-seat Iceberg Skating Palace lift Lipnitskaia and, possibly, sway the judges?

And what sort of artistic impression will Lipnitskaia make: Will she come across as a girl performing acrobatic feats on skates? Or as a seasoned competitor with authentic emotional range?

Carroll, a coach known for his meticulous eye, voiced skepticism Tuesday.

“She’s a little girl,” Carroll said of Lipnitskaia. “She’s very, very good. Extremely talented. I admire her skating; I think she’s wonderful.

“Is she a 10? Can she score 10 in the [performance-based] components or 9.5? I don’t think so. I think that she will be that way, and she will mature with time and be fantastic. But I don’t think that time is now.”


Photos: View Photo Gallery: Courage and humanity have shined in the Winter Olympics. Here are moments that transcended one nation’s — or one person’s — achievement.
Precisely that concern was on the mind of Lipnitskaia’s choreographer, Ilya Averbukh, a famed Russian ice dancer, as he set to work developing her programs for the run-up to Sochi.

Though still in grade school, Lipnitskaia chooses her music for competitions. After watching the movie “Schindler’s List” multiple times, she reportedly fell in love with the idea of portraying the red-coated girl who appears in the heart-rending scene in the Krakow ghetto. It is a chilling premise for a long program — one Lipnitskaia handles with almost reverent sobriety.

“We wanted to keep Julia’s girlish beauty and her flight, but at the same time we did not want her to be looked at as a child. We wanted to show a growing girl,” Averbukh told Russian reporters. “That was why we staged her program very seriously and profoundly, so that this depth could add maturity to her skating”

There has always been seriousness about Lipnitskaia even from age 4, when her mother first brought her to Elena Levkovets for figure skating lessons in her home town of Ekaterinburg, the coach said.

Lipnitskaia’s father left before she was born to join the military and never returned, according to media reports.

“When she got to our school, she was already different,” Levkovets said of Lipnitskaia during a telephone interview from the rink in Russia’s Urals. “She was very brave. She was very talented and, at the same time, a very serious girl.”

Lipnitskaia delighted in playing games when it was time to play, the coach added. But when it was time to work, she worked exceptionally hard.

“After two years it was clear she was a leader in our group,” Levkovets said. “It was very easy for her to learn things; you didn’t have to tell her more than once. At that time we were learning jumps — one- or two-rotation jumps — and it was very easy for her.”

She progressed so quickly that at age 11, her mother moved her to Moscow for more intensive training.

And as Levkovets watched on TV as her former pupil led Russia to its first gold medal of the Sochi Games, she felt a joy that defied description.

“To say that I was very happy and I liked it, is to say nothing,” the coach said. “I think that a new young star is being lit in Russia right now. She is only 15, so all roads are open for her.”

 

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Peculiar figure skating terms: Explained Let's be honest: You have no idea what the difference between a Lutz and an Axel is By James Harbeck

Triple Axel! Quad Salchow! Triple Lutz with triple loop in combination!

If you, like most people, only watch figure skating about once every four years, you may wish you knew what the difference is between the jumps — and why they have those bizarre names. Well, today is your lucky day.

On the face of it, a skating jump may seem like strapping two knives to your feet, spinning in the air, and landing on one foot going backwards. This is almost accurate. However, skate blades are different from knives in an important way: Each blade has two edges, not one.

Everything in figure skating is about these edges. When you take off for a jump, you're not skating in a straight line. You're always on a curve, and on one foot. That means you're always on one edge. And which edge you take off from determines what kind of jump it is. That and whether you use the toe pick on the other skate to help you.

The edge you land on doesn't determine the jump. Why not? Because you always land on the same edge. If (like most skaters) you rotate counterclockwise when you jump, you land going backward on your right foot on the outside edge, which is the right side of the blade. Mechanically it's the only edge you can actually land on, given the direction you're rotating, the fact that you're going backward when you're landing, and your quite reasonable desire not to wipe out all over the ice.

Why do you land skating backward? Because if you land skating forward, an awkward scene will ensue, possibly involving blood. Part of it is because of what your body has to do to stop the spinning. Part of it is that figure skate blades have tails at the back and curves with picks at the front. The tail helps keep you from falling; the curve and toe pick would help you fall.

So… which jump has which take-off, and why are they called what they're called? Here are your answers. Remember that we're assuming that you rotate counterclockwise. For those jumpers who rotate the other way, just take the mirror image of everything. And what about all the "double, triple, quad" stuff? That's how many times you rotate in the air before you land. There are single jumps, too, which have just one rotation, but you mostly don't see those at the Olympic level… not intentionally, anyway.

Loop

If you take off from skating backwards on the outside edge on your right foot (that's the right side, the same edge you land on), it's called a loop. Why a loop? Because it's reminiscent of the loop compulsory figure. Compulsory figure? Skaters used to have to trace patterns on the ice as part of their training and competitions: loops, eights, and so on. That's why it's called figure skating. Those aren't required anymore. This jump is also called a Rittberger in Europe, after Werner Rittberger, who is credited with inventing it.

Toe loop

A toe loop is like a loop, except you dig in the toe pick of your left skate to help (which means your free leg starts behind you, not in front as with the loop). The toe loop and the Salchow are the two easiest jumps (not counting a waltz jump, which only has a half rotation). This jump has also been called a cherry flip. Like a flip (see below), it's a toe jump — i.e., it uses the toe pick.

The loop and the toe loop are the only jumps that can be the second jump in a combination, because in order for it to be a combination, you have to take off from the same edge you just landed on, and the loop and the toe loop are the two that do.



Salchow

This is probably the most-noticed jump name. It sounds so awkward — "sow cow"? It's named after its inventor, Ulrich Salchow, a Swedish skater. For this jump, you take off from the inside (right) edge of your left skate, and you don't use your toe pick. So the curve you're skating in is rotating your body the same way as the jump will, and you start by swinging your right leg around in front as you take off from your left foot.

Flip

A flip is not a backflip. (Backflips are banned in competition.) A flip takes off from the same edge as a Salchow, but you use the toe pick on your right skate. That makes a big difference because your right skate is actually the last thing touching the ice as you take off. The flip was for a time called a Mapes jump, after Bruce Mapes (in roller skating they call a toe loop a Mapes).

Lutz

A Lutz also takes off from the left foot and uses the toe pick, but it takes off from the outside (left) edge. That means you're curving one way and then rotating the other — it's a "counter-rotated" jump, which makes it more difficult. If you see an athlete skating a long way backwards on the left foot with a very shallow clockwise curve, you can bet they're about to do a Lutz. Sometimes a skater will cheat and curve the other way just before jumping, making it a flip of sorts. This is called doing a flutz.

There is no version of the Lutz without the toe pick. Too difficult.

Walley

Never heard of a Walley? That's because it's only used as a connecting element between other things. It's too difficult and awkward to be done with more than one rotation. It's another counter-rotated jump, you see: You come in on an inside (clockwise) curve on your right skate, and then when you jump you have to turn your whole body the other way. If you use your toe pick to help you, it's a toe Walley. It's named after American skater Nate Walley, who may have invented it. In Britain, it's sometimes called a Pat Low jump, because not everyone agrees on who to blame for it.

Axel

This jump is also named after its inventor: Axel Paulsen, a Norwegian figure skater and speed skater. Did you notice how it's the only jump that takes the first name of its inventor? That's fitting, because it's also the only jump that takes off forwards. You skate forward on your left skate on the outside edge (so in a counter-clockwise circle), then swing your right leg forward and rotate in the air. A single Axel is one-and-a-half turns; a double, two-and-a-half; et cetera. An Axel that only goes a half a turn — just take off, go 180˚ in the air, and land — is called a waltz jump.

**

That's the whole list of jumps you'll see in Olympic competition. There are no other jumps that take off forward — if they could be done, they would be.

But do you ever wonder how the skating commentators (and any skaters in your life) seem to know what jump is coming well before the take-off? It's because there are different things you do to get ready for the different jumps. That's a whole other article.

One more thing: Are you wondering why skaters will go for a quad and risk falling rather than safely land a triple? It's because if you rotate all the way and land on the edge and then fall once you've landed, it's a one-point deduction (plus you lose some style points), but the point difference between a triple and a quad is about six points (depending on the jump).

Got all that? Good! There will be a test. It's called the ladies' free skate (a.k.a. the women's long program), and it's on Thursday, February 20, at 7 p.m. … Sochi time.

 

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No!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

 

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Olympic Figure Skating 2014: Live Results, Analysis of Ladies' Short Program

There's the top three. Then there's the rest. Less than a single point separates the leaders in the ladies' figure skating competition after Wednesday's short program.

In just her fourth international competition since winning gold in Vancouver in 2010, Yuna Kim of Korea leads the standings with a score of 74.92, three-tenths of a point ahead of Russia's 17-year-old Adelina Sotnikova. A surging Carolina Kostner of Italy is also in contention, just eight-tenths back of the leader.

Top performers like Japan's Mao Asada and Russia's Julia Lipnitskaia faltered under the intense glare of Olympic pressure, but U.S. skaters Gracie Gold, Ashley Wagner and Polina Edmunds all skated well.

The American trio sits just outside the medal positions after Wednesday's competition, though there is a gap behind the leaders. Gold is in fourth place with 68.63 points, Ashley Wagner is sixth and Polina Edmunds sits in seventh position.

With plenty of points still available in Thursday's free skate, medals are still up for grabs in a sport where one mistake can change the standings in a hurry.

1. Yuna Kim - Korea - 74.92

2. Adelina Sotnikova - Russia - 74.64

3. Carolina Kostner - Italy - 74.12

http://www.sochi2014.com/en/figure-skating-ladies-short-program

 

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Kim is just three-tenths of a point ahead of Russian Adelina Sotnikova, who scored 74.62, and just eight-tenths ahead of Italian Carolina Kostner, who scored 74.12. American Gracie Gold, who scored 68.63 is in striking distance in fourth, as are Russian Yulia Lipnitskaya, in fifth with 65.23; and American Ashley Wagner in sixth with 65.21.

In what was a stacked field of skaters, the South Korean star was one of the headliners coming into Sochi, Russia, after winning gold at the 2010 Winter Olympics in Vancouver. In addition to that, Kim won the 2013 World Championships in London.

Coming in, there was no shortage of ladies looking to knock the 23-year-old off her perch.

Julia Lipnitskaia helped Russia take home gold in the team figure skating event, not to mention she's the reigning European champion and has the Sochi crowd firmly behind her. Mao Asada won silver in Vancouver and is still at her peak. There's also Carolina Kostner, who got silver at the 2013 World Championships and won gold at the 2012 and 2013 European Championships.

Americans Ashley Wagner and Gracie Gold are also lurking in the background.

As if that's not enough, Kim is also in a fight against history.

The last time a female repeated as gold-medal champion was 1988 with East Germany's Katarina Witt. Before that, you had to go back all the way to 1932 and 1936. Sonja Henie of Norway won gold at three consecutive Olympics.

Kim is well aware of the task at hand, though." The situation and the skills of the athletes are very different (now)," she said, per the Chicago Tribune's Philip Hersh. "It means a lot for me to take part in this Olympics, not that I have to win twice."

The 2014 Olympics are also a chance for Kim to go out on top, as she told Yahoo! Sports' Martin Rogers that this will be her last event.

"It will be the last competition of my professional career, so I want to make sure I have no regrets and enjoy the experience," she said. "It is my second and last Olympics. I can say I'm in good condition as I'm now injury-free at least."

After such a strong score in the short program, Kim is in a great position heading into the free skate. She doesn't have much room for error, thanks to stellar performances from her competitors, but Kim is capable of puling it off.

Despite her lack of appearances over the last four years, it's clear that Kim hasn't lost a step from her dominant performance of 2010.

 

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Elena Glebova of Estonia competes in the Figure Skating Ladies' Short Program on day 12 of the Sochi 2014 Winter Olympics at Iceberg Skating Palace on February 19, 2014 in Sochi, Russia.

 

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So Youn Park of Korea competes in the Figure Skating Ladies' Short Program on day 12 of the Sochi 2014 Winter Olympics at Iceberg Skating Palace on February 19, 2014 in Sochi, Russia.

Gabrielle Daleman of Canada competes in the Figure Skating Ladies' Short Program on day 12 of the Sochi 2014 Winter Olympics at Iceberg Skating Palace on February 19, 2014 in Sochi, Russia.

 

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SOCHI, Russia — Her choice of music for Wednesday’s short program, “Send in the Clowns,” might have suggested departure and regret instead of victory for Kim Yu-na of South Korea, the defending Olympic women’s figure skating champion.

But when two other favorites showed vulnerability and fell, Kim, 23, narrowly took first place with a mature and elegant routine, even if it did not rise to her stirring performance four years ago at the Vancouver Games.

Entering Thursday’s long program with 74.92 points, Kim will attempt to become only the third woman to win consecutive gold medals after Sonja Henie of Norway (1928, 1932, 1936) and Katarina Witt of the former East Germany (1984, 1988).

Trailing Kim by less than a point is a Russian teenager, but not the one almost everyone expected.

Yulia Lipnitskaya, 15, the European champion with the impossible flexibility and blurring spins, fell on a triple flip and tumbled to fifth place.

Kim Yu-na of South Korea, 23, narrowly held on to first place with 74.92 points with a mature and elegant routine. Josh Haner/The New York Times
“I’m very happy I managed to concentrate and show a good performance,” Sotnikova said.

In third, also less than a point behind Kim, was Carolina Kostner, 27, the 2012 world champion from Italy. She famously struggled at the previous two Olympics but was poised and graceful on Wednesday in a prayer-like performance to “Ave Maria.”

While Kim skated a more demanding technical program, Kostner cleverly improvised her opening maneuver. Without alerting her coach, she switched from a rudimentary triple toe loop, triple toe loop combination to a more challenging triple flip, triple toe loop.

She also received higher marks than Kim for performance, transitions and linking footwork, choreography and musical interpretation in collecting 74.12 points.

Launch media viewer Yulia Lipnitskaya, 15, the European champion, fell on a triple flip and tumbled to fifth place. Josh Haner/The New York Times
After finishing 16th in Vancouver, Kostner considered retiring then decided against it.

“I just wanted to skate because I love it,” she said. “The hard times make you understand what you really want.”

Gracie Gold, 18, the American champion, landed inexactly on three jumps, but managed to save them, a skill she learned in recent months under Coach Frank Carroll. She held fourth place with 68.63 points.

Once overcome by panic and fear of failure about not making the Olympic team, Gold has grown resilient. She said she felt sick to her stomach before Wednesday’s routine, but managed to rescue a shaky opening triple lutz to complete a triple toe loop combination.

Launch media viewer Adelina Sotnikova, 17, skated powerfully to “Carmen,” received a higher technical score than Kim and surprisingly took second place with 74.64 points. Josh Haner/The New York Times
“I thought to myself, ‘This is my Olympic moment. Am I going to be on my butt?’ ” Gold said. “No. The Olympics is not the place to play it safe. I’m going for it.”

The biggest disappointment of the night was Mao Asada, 23 of Japan, the reigning Olympic silver medalist, whose signature jump, the triple axel, has grown unreliable, eroding her confidence.

Only a handful of women have landed the difficult jump, which requires three and a half revolutions. In Wednesday’s final performance, Asada fell on the triple axel to open her program and had a disastrous skate, finishing 16th with 55.51 points.

“I lost the fight within me,” said Asada, who also fell on the triple axel earlier in the Olympic team competition. “It was all mental.”


At the 2010 Vancouver Games, Kim gave one of the greatest Olympic performances of any era. She conveyed sultriness and a hint of danger as a Bond girl, ending her short program with a pistol-pointing smile, then won the gold medal with an airy, ethereal free skate to music from Gershwin.



Kim has become one of the most popular celebrities in South Korea, and, a year ago, she defied the convention that a skater must perform a season’s worth of events on the Grand Prix circuit to remain at the highest level. After seldom competing, Kim arrived at the 2013 world championships in London, Ontario, and won by more than 20 points.

This Olympic season, though, has been disrupted and uncertain. Kim injured her right foot in the fall and missed about six weeks of training, along with the Grand Prix circuit. She arrived in Sochi, having competed only in a small event in Zagreb, Croatia and at the South Korean championships.

Because her international standing had lowered, Kim skated well before the other favorites on Wednesday, which is generally considered a disadvantage. But Kim said she felt less pressure in an early group.

Gracie Gold, 18, the American champion, landed inexactly on three jumps, but managed to save them, and took fourth place with 68.63 points. Josh Haner/The New York Times
Wednesday’s outcome demonstrated that Kim could still skate with precision “whenever, wherever, whatever,” said Paul Wylie, the 1992 Olympic silver medalist.

“She finally smiled,” Wylie said. “I felt she was putting so much pressure on herself. She’s the kind of person that is rare. She doesn’t need other people around her to reach the level that is her standard.”

Her warm-up appeared anxious. Kim said her legs felt stiff. Still, she delivered a flowing if imperfect performance dressed in a sparkly chartreuse costume, remindful in color of one that Peggy Fleming won in 1968.

The judges rewarded Kim for her bounding and fluid triple-lutz, triple toe loop combination but found blemishes in her footwork sequence and layback spin, which seemed somewhat slow and not wholly formed. Her score of 74.92 points was three and a half points lower than Kim received four years ago in Vancouver.

“In warm-up, I was very nervous; I couldn’t jump at all,” Kim said. “But I tried to believe in myself and believed in what I’ve done before. I felt like I was dreaming. I had a lot of thoughts when I was giving my performance.”

Afterward, Kim put her hands to her head, perhaps in relief or in fear of missed opportunity. But she held first place. In Thursday’s long program, the risk for Kim is that she will be judged by her 2010 performance, not by her current merit, said Scott Hamilton, the 1984 Olympic champion.

“Now it’s really tempting to judge her, not so much against the field, but against herself,” Hamilton said. “If you feel like she maybe isn’t what she was four years ago, maybe it’s because we’ve grown accustomed to her. You’ve got to guard against that because it can create a level of prejudice, where you are not allowing her to stand on her merit but on the magic that was created four years ago

 

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Natalia Popova of Ukraine competes in the Figure Skating Ladies' Short Program on day 12 of the Sochi 2014 Winter Olympics at Iceberg Skating Palace on February 19, 2014 in Sochi, Russia.

Jenna McCorkell of Great Britain competes in the Figure Skating Ladies' Short Program on day 12 of the Sochi 2014 Winter Olympics at Iceberg Skating Palace on February 19, 2014 in Sochi, Russia.

Kaetlyn Osmond of Canada competes in the Figure Skating Ladies' Short Program on day 12 of the Sochi 2014 Winter Olympics at Iceberg Skating Palace on February 19, 2014 in Sochi, Russia.

 

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Kexin Zhang of China competes in the Figure Skating Ladies' Short Program on day 12 of the Sochi 2014 Winter Olympics at Iceberg Skating Palace on February 19, 2014 in Sochi, Russia.

Brooklee Han of Australia competes in the Figure Skating Ladies' Short Program on day 12 of the Sochi 2014 Winter Olympics at Iceberg Skating Palace on February 19, 2014 in Sochi, Russia.

Isadora Williams of Brazil competes in the Figure Skating Ladies' Short Program on day 12 of the Sochi 2014 Winter Olympics at Iceberg Skating Palace on February 19, 2014 in Sochi, Russia.

 

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Polina Edmunds of the United States competes in the Figure Skating Ladies' Short Program on day 12 of the Sochi 2014 Winter Olympics at Iceberg Skating Palace on February 19, 2014 in Sochi, Russia.