Olympic Figure Skating 2014: Breaking Down the Best Chances for Ladies' Gold
The 2014 Winter Olympics saw more figure skating than ever with the introduction of a team competition, but the sport wraps up with the ladies event. Between the short program on Wednesday and Thursday's free skate, the host nation has a strong shot at gold, but the 2010 Olympic champion will be extremely difficult to top.
We round up all the best shots at gold, in what is set up to be a sensational clash of youth and experience.
When: Short program, Feb. 19, 10 a.m. ET; free skate Feb. 20, 10 a.m. ET
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Where: Iceberg Skating Palace
Watch: Live on NBCSN, primetime replay on NBC
Stream: NBCOlympics.com and the Live Extra app
Korean Yuna Kim won the gold in the ladies' event at the 2010 Olympics in Vancouver, and she did so with a world-record score. She's also coming off a 2013 world championship in London. However, she did not skate in the team competition where the other top competitors for gold shined.
As Kim told Barry Wilner of the Associated Press through a translator, she was disappointed with the surface conditions during Sunday's practice, which is why she cut her run short before the routine was finished: "It was not great today and I think the ice was not good. But it was not a big problem." It appears the woman known as "Queen Yuna" throughout South Korea is focused solely on another individual gold.
Her primary competition will be Russia's Julia Lipnitskaia, who finished first in the ladies portion of the first-ever team event and helped the hosts to gold. Her performances in the short and free programs dazzled the judges and delighted the crowd, which included President Vladimir Putin.
As USA Today's Nancy Armour noted, 1984 Olympic men's champion and NBC commentator Scott Hamilton was very impressed by her performance: "Her look and her presence on the ice being so far beyond her age has cast a spell on anyone who has ever seen her...She comes in with a lot of momentum and she's a fresh face. And we always love a fresh face."
The 23-year-old Kim is approaching these games with experience and a seemingly singular focus on taking another gold medal in ladies singles. As she told Wilner about her competition for gold: "The Russian girls just went from juniors into seniors and now they have their first Olympic Games, and me, I am in my second Olympics. They are not as experienced at it, but it is fun to be in your first Olympics."
Of course, Kim won gold in her first Olympics last time out, but she seems to consider her experience an advantage over the 15-year-old Lipnitskaia.
Mao Asada of Japan is the third candidate to take the gold, but she only skated in the short program of the team event, placing third. Italian skater Carolina Kostner finished just ahead of Asada in second.
The best bet for a top finish by a U.S. skater is appropriately Gracie Gold. The 18-year-old from Newton, Mass. won the 2014 U.S. Championship in Boston. She's good enough to have garnered a Sports Illustrated cover before the games, so hopefully she won't fall victim to the dreaded "SI cover curse."
American teammate Ashley Wagner has won two U.S. championships at 22 years of age, and she and Gold each earned a bronze medal in the team event.
However, the betting odds do not favor the American women, and instead paint a three-way race for first place. According to OddChecker.com, Kim is the odds-on favorite for gold, trailed very closely by Lipnitskaia. Asada is a 4-1 shot on most books, with Kostner around 12-1. Gold is a 25-1 bet trailed by long shot Wagner at 50-1.
Figure skating is undeniably a sport where youth is an advantage, and Lipnitskaia is the only top skater with youth on her side. Gold is another strong bet to be skating for the U.S. at the 2018 Olympics, but Kim and Asada are each 23, and Kostner is 27.
If Lipnitskaia can carry over her stellar form from the team event, she could ascend very rapidly to the top of the sport for years to come.
Regardless of who wins, it will be riveting to see if Kim's experience can prevail over the exuberance of Lipnitskaia and her grace on home ice.
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