BEIJING: Russian teenage star Kamila Valieva made figure skating history Monday, becoming the first woman to land a quadruple jump at the Olympics — and not content with one, she landed two.
The 15-year-old landed the quadruple jumps — when a skater rotates four times in the air — as she once again demolished the competition in the freestyle programme team event in Beijing.
Despite finishing 30 points ahead of second-placed Kaori Sakamoto, Valieva looked distraught at the end of her performance — she had fallen attempting a third quad jump.
She is part of a team trained by coach Eteri Tutberidze expected to take the podium in the women’s individual event in Beijing, and Valieva is the favourite for gold.
All three skaters have comfortably landed quad jumps in competition before — but it has never been done at an Olympics.
A quad jump has been attempted at the Games before, according to the Olympics news site — Surya Bonaly tried it in 1992 but it was considered not fully rotated on landing and so was downgraded.
