Olympic figure skating champion Alina Zagitova, who stunned in Pyeongchang four weeks ago, again left the crowd speechless in Milan on Friday, but for a different reason — delivering a free skate in which she struggled to stay on her feet.
The 15-year-old fell three times to finish fifth at the International Skating Union (ISU) World Figure Skating Championships, ending her bid for a sweep of all the major titles in her first senior season.
The hopes of Italy’s Carolina Kostner also took a tumble as the veteran looked to cap her 14-year world career with a world title on home ice.
Photo: Reuters
Kostner, 31, and Zagitova had gone 1-2 in Wednesday’s short program, but both tumbled off the podium into fourth and fifth respectively.
Canada’s Kaetlyn Osmond seized her chance and vaulted from fourth to take her first world gold to add to her silver last year. Zagikova’s fall from grace was shocking.
She had won the ISU Grand Prix final title in December, claimed European gold in January and garnered the Olympic title in February, with the world title programmed for this month.
She looked a shadow of the skater who won hearts with her grace and composure in South Korea, winning a duel with teammate Evgenia Medvedeva to become the second-youngest Olympic ladies champion after American Tara Lipinski in 1998.
All that was left to cap the fairytale was four minutes on the Milan ice.
The girl in the red ballerina’s costume had looked composed as she took to the ice for her free dance set to Austrian composer Ludwig Minkus’ score to the ballet Don Quixote.
She stuck with her tried and trusted method of backloading all her jumps into the second half of her program to earn maximum points, but this time she could not land them.
She collapsed in tears afterward as she left the ice to be comforted in the arms of her coach Eteri Tutberidze.
“She is only 15 years old and this was her debut at the world championships. Unfortunately, she was not able to deal with the nerves,” said Daniil Gleikhengauz, another of her coaches. “We coaches ourselves don’t understand what happened. She never skated poorly like that. We’ll have to analyze it.”
Kostner — competing in her 14th world championships — was chasing a seventh world medal to add to her gold from 2012, two silver and three bronzes, but she once again failed to shine at home, as during the 2006 Turin Olympics and the 2010 worlds, also in the northern Italian city.
Not even the rowdy home support could lift an uninspiring skate to Debussy’s Prelude a l’apres-midi d’un faune, even before she fell on a triple salchow.
“This fourth has a bitter taste,” the 31-year-old said. “I’m sorry that I could not find the right rhythm on the ice, but who would have thought that I’d go home with a small gold medal in the short program?”
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