Olympic figure skating live results 2018: Russian Alina Zagitova wins women’s short program

The women’s individual figure skating got off to a cracking start on Tuesday evening with the short program. As expected, the Russian athletes dominated this program, with Alina Zagitova taking first place and Evgenia Medvedeva in second. If this result holds, the Olympic Athletes from Russia will finally have their first gold medal in the Pyeongchang Winter Olympics.

Canada’s Kaetlyn Osmon sits in third place, and behind her are a pair of Japanese women (Satoko Miyahara, Kaori Sakamoto) also jockeying for a spot on the podium. Italy’s Carolina Kostner rounds out the top six.

It was a relatively disappointing night for Team USA. Mirai Nagasu was the biggest American star who had the best shot at getting a medal, but she couldn’t land her historic triple axel and finished the short program way back in ninth place. Karen Chen and Bradie Tennell were right behind Nagasu at 10th and 11th, respectively.

It’s a respectable showing for Chen and Tennell, neither of whom were considered a serious contender heading in. However, Nagasu needs a much better showing in the free skate if the Americans hope to take home a medal in individual figure skating this year.

The athletes return on Thursday with the free skate, which will determine the medals in this event. Below are the complete live results.

The final skater of the night is Russian athlete Maria Sotskova, also using music from Swan Lake. Sotskova was a potential medal contender, but took a bad fall on her triple lutz/triple toeloop combo, and ended up with a middling score of 63.86.

Italy’s Carolina Kostner skated to Celine Dion’s “Ne me quitte pas,” and despite slipping on her triple loop, she turned in a solid performance that just happened to be a step below the Russians. A 73.15 score put the 31-year-old just out of podium contention.

Alina Zagitova is the other Russian expected to challenge for gold, using music from the Black Swan soundtrack. It was yet another rapturous performance in a group full of them, with Zagitova nailing her run without any problem and delivering a huge finale. Zagitova smashed Medvedeva’s short-program record with an 82.92 score, putting the Russians 1-2 in the standings.

Another gold medal hopeful emerged in the form of Canada’s Kaetlyn Osmond, skating to “Sous le ciel de Paris.” With almost perfect technicals and bigger jumps than Medvedeva, Osmond brought the house down. She was damn close to toppling Medvedeva, but came up just short with a 78.87 score.

After Medvedeva stole the show, Japan’s Satoko Miyahara had a tough act to follow. She did well on her routine with the Memoirs of a Geisha soundtrack, putting in an outstanding program that had the crowd roaring by the end. A 75.94 score placed her second for now.

Medvedeva skated her short program to “Nocturne” by Frederic Chopin. She didn’t attempt many high-risk jumps, but did nail her triple flip/triple toeloop combo. It was a near-perfect skate with no flaws on the technical side, and Medvedeva shot to the top of the standings with an 81.61 score.

Russian athlete Evgenia Medvedeva is not only a gold medal favorite, she does a pretty good Sailor Moon impression.

The Korean crowd went wild for another hometown hero, Dabin Choi. She lived up to the big reception with an exceptional program set to the Papa Can You Hear Me soundtrack, Choi earned a 67.77 score, putting her in third place as the fourth group comes to a close.

Elizabet Tursynbaeva of Kazakhstan was the third skater to use “Carmen” in this event. She had a decent run, but some mistakes put her score at 57.95, well behind the contenders.

Karen Chen is the next American up, making her Olympic debut at 18 years old. She skated to “On Golden Pond.” Chen couldn’t land her opening triple lutz, but did well the rest of the way and got the crowd on their feet with a beautiful program. Chen scored 65.90.

Canadian Gabrielle Daleman used “Habanera (from Carmen),” falling on an early jump but rebounding to put a great routine together. She moved ahead of Nagasu with a 68.90 score.

Next up is Mirai Nagasu, skating to “Nocturne No. 20 in C Minor.” The American landed her triple axel in the team event, but she couldn’t pull it off this time around. Nagasu otherwise had a solid program with few mistakes after the axel, still earning bonus points for attempting the jump. She scored 66.93, good for second place at the time.

Kaori Sakamoto of Japan started off the next group with “Moonlight Sonata” and took first place from Tennell with a personal-best score of 73.18, her highest result in the short program.

Nicole Rajicova was the final skater of the group, setting the stage for the top contenders coming up next. She became just the second woman of the night to hit the 60-point night, sitting just behind Tennell at 60.59.

Nicolle Schott is the only German in this event, skating to “Nella Fantasia.” Schott’s score of 59.20 was her best of the season so far, and did enough to easily earn qualification.

Belgium’s Loena Hendrickx kept up the pop theme with Madonna’s “Frozen,” skating a lovely routine overall. However, a few key mistakes dropped her score to 55.16.

The unique song choices continued with Italy’s Giada Russo using the Eyes Wide Shut soundtrack. Russo had a fall and otherwise didn’t do much of note in a bizarre run, earning a middling score of 50.88.

Hungary’s Ivett Toth immediately woke up the crowd with AC/DC, skating to “Back in Black” and “Thunderstruck.” The run itself was good but not terribly ambitious, getting only a 53.22 score from the judges.

Tennell still leads as we head into the third group, with Australia’s Kailani Craine skating to “Dream a Little Dream of Me.” Craine had probably the cleanest run of the night so far, with 56.77 putting her right behind Tennell.

Frenchwoman Mae-Berenice Meite used a medley of Beyonce songs, which honestly should’ve earned her bonus points. Her actual skate was less than clean, however, and 53.67 was just barely enough for qualification.

Larkyn Austman is the first Canadian competing this evening. She had a tried-and-true song choice with the Cabaret soundtrack, but a big fall and other miscues doomed her technical score. At 51.42, she fell near the bottom of the standings.

Emmi Peltonen had a decent skate despite a couple mistakes, settling in with a 55.28 score.

Next up was Kazakhstan’s Aiza Mambekova, who had an energetic skate even without much in the way of technical prowess. The 44.40 score put her out of qualification for the free skate.

Switzerland’s Alexia Paganini pulled off a clean run set to “Forbidden Love” from Romeo and Juliet. Her 55.62 was a personal-best score this season, but Tennell still leads after eight skaters.

Chinese Xiangning Li started off the next group with the Cinema Paradiso soundtrack. Li had a couple of falls and settled for a score of 52.46.

The last skater from this group is Sweden’s Anite Oestlund, using the classic “Carmen Fantasy.” She had too many mistakes on the technical side and ended up with only a 49.14 score.

The youngest competitor in this event is South Korea’s Hanul Kim at 15 years old, skating to The Piano soundtrack. She got a warm reception from the hometown crowd and a 54.33 score from the judges.

Latvian Diana Nikitina had the best song early on with Sade’s “Soldier of Love.” Alas, a 51.12 score put her on the fringes of qualification.

Anna Khnychenkova of Ukraine suffered multiple falls and couldn’t quite get in a rhythm, technical-wise. Her run, featuring “Sorongo” and “Street Passions” by Didulia, got only a 47.59 score.

Brazil’s Isadora Williams used the kd lang cover of “Hallelujah.” That’s a popular song choice this year, but strangely enough, nobody used the Leonard Cohen original yet. Williams scored 55.74.

Bradie Tennell started off the night as the first member of Team USA, skating to “Taeguki.” She fell on her early triple toeloop attempt, but got through the rest of the routine without incident. A 64.01 score set the pace for the evening.

The women’s individual event in figure skating begins Tuesday evening with the short program, featuring a star-studded field and several medal hopefuls from Team USA. Viewers in the U.S. can catch this event live at 8 p.m. ET on NBC and NBCSN (live streams at NBC Olympics and FuboTV).

Mirai Nagasu is among the Americans skating for a medal, and she’ll try to build on an impressive performance in the team event. Nagasu became the first American women to land a triple axel in the Olympics, helping Team USA capture the bronze medal. Short program is Nagasu’s biggest strength, so she could use a great run here to build momentum for the free skate.

Another American skater is Karen Chen, making her Olympic debut at 18 years old. Chen isn’t expected to be one of the top medal contenders, but Team USA has a rather deep field this year.

The gold medal favorite is probably Russian athlete Evgenia Medvedeva, who won the 2017 World Championships and took first place at the short program in the team event. The Olympic Athletes from Russia are still looking for their first gold in Pyeongchang, and Medvedeva represents their best chance yet. Other podium contenders include Italy’s Carolina Kostner, Japan’s Satoko Miyahara, and Canada’s Kaetlyn Osmond.