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 leaps – when a skater rotates four times in the air – as she crushed the competition in Beijing’s freestyle programme team event.
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 a favourite for gold.
All three skaters have successfully landed quad leaps in the competition previously, but never at the 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.
