Kihira upsets Olympic champ Zagitova
JAPAN’S rising star Rika Kihira (pictured, AFP) won the battle of the 16-year-olds, upsetting reigning Olympic champion Alina Zagitova to claim ladies’ gold at the ISU Grand Prix Figure Skating Final on Saturday.
Skating her free programme ‘Beautiful Storm’ by Jennifer Thomas, Kihira missed her first triple Axel but skated clean the rest of the way, including nailing her triple Lutz-toe loop.
Kihira, who also won the short programme, finished with a personal best total score of 233.12 points to beat runner-up Zagitova by more than six points.
European champion Zagitova, skating to “Carmen” in her free programme, earned a total of 226.53 points while her Russian compatriot Elizaveta Tuktamysheva grabbed the third spot on the podium with 215.32 points.
The women’s competition was a Japan-Russia affair as Japan’s Kaori Sakamoto placed fourth, Russia’s Sofia Samodurova finished fifth and Japan’s Satoko Miyahara was sixth.
Kihira earned $25,000 for finishing first while Zagitova collected $18,000.
Kihira’s victory continued a breakthrough season in 2018. She won two prior grand prix events – the Internationaux de France in Grenoble and the NHKTrophy y in Hiroshima, where she posted osted her previous best score re of 224.31.
She became the first woman to la nd a triple A xel-triple t r iple toe loop in competition at the junior gra nd pri x f ina ls s la last st year.
Zagitova burst onto the scene last year winning gold at the European Championships. s. She says she is feeling the pressure essure more this season. Madison Hubbell and Zachary Donohue continued the US domination of i c e
d a n c e by winning the gold medal with a free dance t ot a l s c ore of 205.03.
The duo won the sixth ice d a n c e g o l d medal for the US in the history of the Grand Prix Final. The US has also won a medal in ice dance at
every fi final since 2006.
In t h e p a i r s , France’s Vanessa James Jam and Morgan Cipres rall rallied from a fourth place finish in the short program to capture capt gold with 219.88 points. James and Cipres scored sco 148.37 points in the free f skate to beat runners-up runners Peng Cheng and Jin Y Yang of China.