The young Russian Kamila Valieva became the first skater in history to land quadruple jumps at the Olympic Games in the women’s free program of the team competition on Monday in Beijing.
Valieva, who even attempted three, fell on her last attempt. But first, she perfectly nailed a quadruple Salchow at the start of the program, then a quadruple toe loop in combination with a triple toe loop a little later.
His performance on Ravel’s Bolero was rewarded with 178.92 points, just over six points from his world record (185.29).
In March 2019, the Kazakh Elizabeth Tursynbaeva had become the first skater to achieve a “quad” in senior international competition (a Salchow already). It was at the World Championships in Saitama, Japan.
Before that, only the Japanese Miki Ando, more than fifteen years earlier, had signed a quadruple jump in international competition (a Salchow also, in the final of the 2002 Junior Grand Prix).
The French Surya Bonaly, she had tackled it for the first time – in vain – in the 1990s. The five-time European champion had even tried one on the Olympic ice in Albertville thirty years ago, in 1992.
Valieva, only 15 years old and crowned European champion less than a month ago, is so far undefeated for her first winter as seniors.
She has won three world records for points since the start of the season: short program, free program and total score.
She will be the N.1 contender for individual Olympic gold in ten days.