Women’s figure skating rarely offers sensational surprises. Quadruple jumps and triple axels give their owners a significant advantage, and judges are always favorable to favorites and representatives of leading coaching teams. Surprisingly, the defeat of Russia’s top junior Elena Kostyleva at the Junior Grand Prix stage in Omsk was unexpected. Despite two clean ultra-C jumps, Kostyleva made numerous errors in her performance and ended up in second place. Even though Kostyleva confirmed her favorite status in the short program in Omsk, her mistakes in the free skate cost her the victory.
After the short program in Omsk, it seemed that only a miracle would prevent Kostyleva from winning the gold medal. Plausibly executing a clean triple axel and handling other elements well, Kostyleva’s advantage over fourth-placed Lidia Pleskacheva was only 3.21 points. Despite being far ahead after the short program, Kostyleva needed 133.93 points to win. A clean triple axel at the beginning of the performance set a positive tone, but a fall on the quadruple loop followed by a double axel instead of a quadruple salchow hampered her performance. Kostyleva’s victory was out of reach as she failed to surpass 200 points and settled for second place.
Pleskacheva was the first real contender for a medal on the ice. She started her performance with a successful triple axel and was warmly welcomed by the Omsk audience for her graceful and artistic skating. With a score of 203.34 points, Pleskacheva had good chances for silver but victory seemed unlikely. Despite the unexpected setback, Kostyleva advanced to the Junior Grand Prix final and retained her chances of defending her title.
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