The Olympic Athletes from Russia (OAR) clearly have the two skaters to beat in the women’s figure skating competition at the 2018 Winter Olympics. But there are plenty of contenders who will be looking to fight for the bronze medal or sneak into an even higher position on the podium.
The two favorites are 18-year-old Evgenia Medvedeva and 15-year-old Alina Zagitova. The two may be rivals, but they are also training partners who share the same coach, and both are skating for OAR in PyeongChang.
Russian Rivals Duel for Gold
Medvedeva has been considered the top contender for the gold medal over the past two years. However, the younger Zagitova has emerged as a serious threat, defeating Medvedeva in the European Championship this January.
But it is Medvedeva who has the longer resume for sure. She won both the 2016 and 2017 world and European championships, and is a two-time Russian national champion as well. She was undefeated for over two years before Zagitova’s emergence, and is coming back to form after an injury to her right foot, which kept her out of both the Grand Prix Final and the Russian National Championship this year.
If you believe in momentum, though, Zagitova might just be your pick for gold. She is the reigning Russian and European champion, and also won gold at the 2017 Grand Prix Final. Zagitova has become famous for her strategic approach to her routines, as she backloads all of her jumps into the second half of her programs in order to earn a 10 percent scoring bonus on each of those elements.
It’s even possible that OAR could sweep the medals, as they have another contender in Maria Sotskova. Although she can be overshadowed by her teammates, she did win silver at the 2017 Grand Prix Final, making her a legitimate threat to end up on the podium at the Olympics.
Beyond Favorites, Many Contenders for Bronze
Medvedeva and Zagitova remain the favorites, however. It’s Medvedeva who is given the edge by sportsbooks, with Bovada tapping her as a -135 favorite to win gold. Zagitova is just behind at +150, suggesting a tight race is expected at the top of the standings. Sotskova (+1200) isn’t considered a major threat to win gold, but will play a factor in the medal race.
Of course, it isn’t just the Russians who will be skating, and several other athletes will have a real shot at walking away with a medal as well.
Chief among them may be Canada’s Kaetlyn Osmond (+900). The Canadian has made an incredible comeback just to get to the Olympics after breaking her right leg in two places in late 2014. For Osmond, overcoming the fear she was left with following the injury was just as hard as her physical recovery.
“I was never scared of falling, or running into someone on the ice, I was so fearless of the ice,” Osmond told The Globe and Mail. “And then it all switched so quickly. It definitely was what I thought [was] the end of my career.”
Other skaters in the mix include the experienced Italian Carolina Kostner (+1600), Japan’s Satoko Miyahara (+1600), and Canadian Gabrielle Daleman (+1600). Karen Chen (+15000) is the only American on the odds board, though the USA’s best chances may come from national champion Bradie Tennell, who is relatively untested at the international level and has only recently shown signs of being an elite skater, or Mirai Nagasu, who became only the third woman to land a triple axel at the Olympics during the earlier team event.
