Medvedeva closing in on back-to-back titles
HELSINKI — Russia’s Evgenia Medvedeva closed in on a second world figure skating title Wednesday by taking the lead in the short program, while China’s Sui Wenjing and Han Cong led the pairs.
Medvedeva, 17, skated flawlessly and scored 79.01 points, a result second only to the world-record score she posted at December’s Grand Prix finals.
Medvedeva, who is unbeaten since November 2015, can become the first woman to win back-toback world titles since Michelle Kwan completed the feat in 2001 in Friday’s free skate.
“I’ll try to show everything I can do in the free skate,” Medvedeva said. Coming into focus
Canadians trailed Medvedeva, with Kaetlyn Osmond second with 75.98 points and Gabrielle Daleman in third with 72.19.
Osmond, in her first world championships since 2014, attributed her success to a more focused approach.
“I was just loving every minute of it and completely in the moment,” Osmond said. “I know how to deal a little bit more with the excitement, and hopefully I can just stay that way for the long (program).”
Osmond will skate last Friday, a position that can put some skaters under pressure. But the Canadian said it “has always been my favorite spot to compete.”
Daleman is following up on her first major championship medal. She won silver at the Four Continents Championship.
“I almost never really, truly believed in myself that much, and then over the last two seasons, it just kept coming together,” Daleman said. Regaining form
Last year’s bronze medalist, Anna Pogorilaya, had to settle for 71.52 points and fourth place. U.S. national champion Karen Chen led the American team in fifth, with veteran Ashley Wagner seventh and Mariah Bell 13th.
Six-time world championship medalist Carolina Kostner of Italy struggled in eighth after making a crucial error on a flying camel spin.
Competing at her first world championship since a ban for lying to antidoping officials, Kostner admitted it was hard to recover her previous form.
“I’m very aware that I cannot just stay out and then think that everything will fall into your lap,” Kostner said.
In the pairs short program, Sui and Han skated cleanly to score 81.23. Germans Aliona Savchenko and Bruno Massot were second with a 79.84.
Reigning world champions Meagan Duhamel and Eric Radford were the surprise of the night, reacting in shock as the judges placed them seventh after a skate with several errors. Their performance was not helped by a muscle injury Radford sustained last week that left him without feeling in his hip.