2021 World bronze medalist Alexandra Trusova led Russia’s Women to a 1-2-3 in the Short Program at the ISU Grand Prix Guaranteed Rate Skate America Saturday in Las Vegas. Daria Usacheva is currently ranked second, ahead of Ksenia Sinitsina.
Top seed Trusova produced an excellent performance to “Frida” that was highlighted by a triple flip, triple Lutz-triple toe, double Axel and level-four spins and footwork. The 2020 European bronze medalist earned a personal best score of 77.69 points.
“I am pleased with my performance, but I am a bit sad that I did not do my triple Axel and hopefully I can do it next time,” the 17-year-old said.
Referring to rumors she might have been forced to withdraw through injury, she explained: “There was the option to skate or to withdraw. When I got up this morning my foot hurt less and I decided I can fight.”
Skating to “Never Enough” from “The Greatest Showman”, Usacheva landed a double Axel, triple Lutz and triple flip-triple toeloop combination and picked up a level four for her spins. That was certainly enough for a personal best score of 76.71 points.
“I am happy with my performance and especially that I was able to open up and bring across the emotions,” the 2020 World Junior silver medalist said. “I did not specifically work on this, I just enjoyed performing today and the emotions came by themselves.”
Sinitsina, who had skated first out of the 12 women, delivered a clean performance to Petr Tchaikovski’s “Lullaby” that featured a triple Lutz-triple toeloop combination and triple flip. She scored 71.51 points. “I am very excited to be at the senior Grand Prix and I wanted to give it my all, skate clean and show the audience this wonderful short program,” the 2020 Youth Olympic Games silver medalist said.
Kaori Sakamoto (JPN) is less than a point behind in fourth place with 71.16 points. She doubled her flip in combination with a triple toe. Young You (KOR), who fell on her triple Axel, ranks fifth (70.73 points) followed by Yelim Kim (KOR) on 70.56 points.
