Russian Teenagers Zagitova and Medvedeva Dominate Ladies’ Figure Skating Short Program as U. Skaters from the Olympic Athletes of Russia and the U. Some athletes come into an Olympic season playing it safe, hoping to hold on and not slip back to russian women’s single skate rivals.

While others see the once-in-four-year test as an opportunity to go for broke. All season, the ladies skaters from the Olympic Athletes of Russia have been setting themselves up as the ones to beat. Training mates Evgenia Medvedeva, 18, and Alina Zagitova, 15, face off in training almost daily, and that constant motivation pushed them to take a risk that is stirring heated discussion in the skating community. Zagitova skated a dazzling short program on Tuesday night at the Gangneung Ice Arena and set a new record with her score of 82. Medvedeva, who has been injured most of the season, skated a routine with less challenging jumps but was able to make up for her lower-scoring elements with high component, or presentation scores that recognize skating skills, musicality and choreography, to finish in second. Zagitova and Medvedeva rose to the top of the standings on the strength of both sheer talent and a controversial strategy of gamesmanship. Under a scoring system in which every skill, every turn and each wave of the arm counts, both skaters are setting new standards for where and how to glean points from an Olympic program.

For Zagitova, the gamble paid off yet again, with a record-setting new short program score that bested Medvedeva by 1. Now my name will be connected to that record. Black Swan and executed three of the more difficult triple jumps ladies perform. Mirai Nagasu, who made history days before by being the first U. Olympics in the team skating event, made another run at the jump.

Ever the technician, her coach Tom Zakrajsek says he saw some hesitation before Nagasu launched into her revolutions. The triple axel is a calculated risk, he says, since it pays off in huge points if Nagasu lands it, as she did in the team event where she collected 10. 11th place, while Karen Chen, the 2017 U. The lost points put her in 10th.

Things happen, we’re all human and we make mistakes but we get up and keep going. The strategizing by the OAR skaters to maximize points will be on full display again on Thursday night, when the ladies return for the free skate. And the back and forth over how smart, effective or even fair it is will rage on. The long program, which is twice as long as the short program, also usually includes double the number of jumps, which Zagitova also packs into the last half of the program.

TIME may receive compensation for some links to products and services on this website. Offers may be subject to change without notice. With talent and gamesmanship, the Russian women proved they deserved to be at the top of the Olympic figure skating podium. By the end of the event, Zagitova retained her lead with a total of 239. 57 points, followed by Medvedeva for silver and Canada’s Kaetlyn Osmond for bronze.

Olympics in a row in which they failed to reach the figure skating podium. For a teen at her first Olympics who just earned a gold medal by outskating her older training partner and rival, Zagitova admitted to feeling oddly calm. For Medvedeva, it was a bittersweet end to a difficult season that she began as the clear favorite for the top of the podium. After her injury in November, she stopped competing for three months. Would things have turned out differently had she not gotten hurt?