Russian Olympic Committee skater Anna Shcherbakova placed second in the short program event at the 2022 Winter Olympics despite not performing a triple axel like her Russian teammates.
The 17-year-old, who was the world champion in 2021, opened with a double axel while skating to “Dangerous Affairs” by Inon Zur, an Israeli-American composer. Shcherbakova had one of three clean skates in the entire field, earning herself a score of 80.20.
“I understood that I am skating at an Olympic Games and I wanted to do this skate to the best of my abilities,” said Shcherbakova. "So I am very happy that I was able to accomplish that.”
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Skating despite a positive drug test, another ROC skater Kamila Valieva started her pursuit of a second gold medal with a score of 82.16 points on Tuesday. She faltered on her opening triple axel and then made it through the rest of her program.
Kaori Sakamoto of Japan had a score of 79.84 to prevent a 1-2-3 Russian finish in the short program. Alexandra Trusova, the other member of the Russian “Quad Squad,” was fourth with 74.60 points.
