Kamila Valieva of Russia stormed to gold at the ISU Grand Prix Skate Canada International setting new record scores. Elizaveta Tuktamysheva in second and Alena Kostornaia in third completed a Russian sweep of the Women’s podium in Vancouver on Saturday.
Valieva opened her “Bolero” program with a quad Salchow and reeled off a quad toe-triple toe, quad toe-Euler-triple Salchow as well as four more triples and only stepped out of her triple Axel. The 2020 ISU World Junior Champion broke her own record score in Free Skating with 180.89 points and racked up 265.08 overall, another new highest score in Women’s Figure Skating to win gold in her senior-level Grand Prix debut.
“I am very happy to skate here at Skate Canada and that I did my job. There were some errors, but they were small,” the 15-year-old said. “I did everything what I had planned in my program and that is the most important for me. I am very excited about my score and I will strive to do even better.”
Tuktamysheva entertained the crowd from the first seconds in her Arabia-themed program, hitting a triple Axel-double toe, triple Axel as well as five other triple jumps, only a triple flip was slightly underrotated (q). The 2021 ISU World silver medalist earned 151.64 points and 232.88 points overall.
“I am crazily happy that I was able to put out a good quality performance. When I went out to skate, I was not at a 100 percent, but I was able to overcome myself and to finish on such a positive note,” the 2015 ISU World Champion said.
Skating to “lovely” by Billie Eilish, Kostornaia stepped out of her underrotated triple Axel, but made up for it with five clean triple jumps. The 2020 European Champion was ranked fourth in the Free Skating with 138.96 points, but held on to third place at 214.54 points.
“I am pleased I could overcome myself and show my program. Some mistakes added up, but I am very happy with my result. I competed with these programs for the first time,” the 18-year-old said.
2017 ISU Four Continents Champion Mai Mihara (JPN) moved up to fourth place at 210.01 points with a clean performance to “Fairy of the Forest”. Alysa Liu (USA) fell on her triple Axel and slipped from fourth to fifth at 206.53 points. 2018 World silver medalist Wakaba Higuchi (JPN) came sixth on 205.27 points.
