Russia’s Evgenia Medvedeva, currently ranked 1st, competes in the women’s short program at the ISU World Figure Skating Championships in Helsinki, Finland. (Getty)
The World Figure Skating Championships got underway today in Helsinki, Finland.
The competition began with the ladies’ short program, where 17-year-old Russian Evgenia Medvedeva leads the field after a near-record score of 79.01. The score was slightly lower than the all-time best of 79.21 she earned at the Grand Prix Final in December.
Medvedeva’s performance to ‘River Flows in You,’ gave her a 3.03 lead over Kaetlyn Osmond.
Osmond and Gabrielle Daleman, who are both from Canada, are second and third, respectively.
Anna Pogorilaya, is currently at fourth and American national champion Karen Chen sits at fifth.
Since winning the world championship in 2016, Medvedeva has been a force in women’s figure skating. Undefeated since November 2015, she has won her last 11 events, including the European Figure Skating Championships.
If Medvedeva defends her title this week, she could be the first female singles skater to win back-to-back world titles since Michelle Kwan of the U.S. in 2001.
Here’s a look at the leaderboard after the women’s short program. The top 24 skaters have qualified to compete in Friday’s free skate.
1 Evgenia MEDVEDEVA RUS 79.01
2 Kaetlyn OSMOND CAN 75.98
3 Gabrielle DALEMAN CAN 72.19
4 Anna POGORILAYA RUS 71.52
5 Karen CHEN USA 69.98
6 Maria SOTSKOVA RUS 69.76
7 Ashley WAGNER USA 69.04
8 Carolina KOSTNER ITA 66.33
9 Wakaba HIGUCHI JPN 65.87
10 Elizabet TURSYNBAEVA KAZ 65.48
11 Dabin CHOI KOR 62.66
12 Rika HONGO JPN 62.55
13 Mariah BELL USA 61.02
14 Ivett TOTH HUN 61.00
15 Mai MIHARA JPN 59.59
16 Xiangning LI CHN 58.28
18 Nicole RAJICOVA SVK 57.08
19 Kailani CRAINE AUS 56.97
20 Zijun LI CHN 56.30
21 Angelina KUCHVALSKA LAT
22 Laurine LECAVELIER FRA 55.49
23 Anastasia GALUSTYAN ARM 55.20
24 Nicole SCHOTT GER 54.83
25 Shuran YU SGP 52.87
26 Joshi HELGESSON SWE 52.07
27 Helery HÄLVIN EST 51.94
28 Amy LIN TPE 51.86
29 Emmi PELTONEN FIN 50.74
30 Isadora WILLIAMS BRA 50.65
31 Kerstin FRANK AUT 50.54
32 Natasha MCKAY GBR 50.10
33 Yasmine Kimiko YAMADA SUI
34 Anne Line GJERSEM NOR 46.99
35 Anna KHNYCHENKOVA UKR 46.98
36 Dasa GRM SLO 46.63
37 Michaela-Lucie HANZLIKOVA CZE 32.21
