US Women's Olympic Figure Skating 2022: Top Scorers, Reaction from Saturday

The final portion of the first half of the 2022 Olympic figure skating team event, the women's short program, took place Saturday evening (Sunday in Beijing) at Capital Indoor Stadium.

The United States entered the women's short in first place thanks to Nathan Chen's success in the men's short program, coupled with the performance of Madison Hubbell and Zachary Donohue in the rhythm dance.

The Olympic Athletes from Russia entered Saturday in second place, while China ranked third. 

Ten women from 10 of the world's premier figure skating countries took the ice Saturday with hopes of bettering their teams' scores. The Olympic Athletes of Russia's Kamila Valieva, who is making her Olympic debut, put on a show in front of an empty arena, scoring a 90.18 to help her country leapfrog the United States in the overall standings. 

Valieva, who is just 15 years old, tallied 10 points for her country, which now holds a two-point lead over the U.S. Her best trick was a triple lutz plus a triple toe loop, which gave her 13.30 points. Her triple axel landed her 11.31 points. She is the first European Woman to land a triple axel at the Olympic Games. 

This performance from Valieva should come as no surprise. The rising star broke her own short program world record with 90.45 points at the 2022 European Figure Skating Championships. 

In addition to Valieva, Japan's Wakaba Higuchi also had an impressive performance, scoring a 74.73 to finish second ahead of Canada's Madeline Schizas, who finished with a 63.90. Higuchi snagged nine points for her country, which is now in third place behind the Olympic Athletes from Russia. 

Karen Chen of the United States had a disappointing performance, scoring just 65.20 points to come in fifth place. She particularly struggled on her triple loop and layback spin 3. She also under-rotated on her best trick of the day, a triple lutz plus a triple toe loop for 8.42 points. 

Chen's performance still gave the U.S. six points, and the Americans are still in contention for a gold medal. 

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Women's Scores:

1. Kamila Valieva, Olympic Athletes from Russia: 90.18
2. Wakaba Higuchi, Japan: 74.73
3. Madeline Schizas, Canada: 69.60
4. Anastasiia Gubanova, Georiga: 67.56
5. Karen Chen, United States: 65.20
6. Nicole Schott, Germany: 62.66
7. Anastasiia Shabotova, Ukraine: 62.49
8. Eliska Brezinova, Czech Republic: 61.05
9. Lara Naki Gutmann, Italy: 58.52
10. Yi Zhu, China: 47.03

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Overall Team Standings:

1. Olympic Athletes of Russia: 36 points
2. United States: 34 points
3. Japan: 29 points
4. Canada: 24 points
5. China: 22 points
6. Georgia: 22 points (final not reached)
7. Italy: 20 points (final not reached)
8. Czech Republic: 15 points (final not reached)
9. Germany: 8 points (final not reached)
10. Ukraine: 8 points (final not reached)