Hope After Shaidorov: Sofya Samodelkina Breaks Personal Record at the Olympics

In the women's figure skating competition at the Winter Olympics currently held in Italy, Kazakhstan’s Sofya Samodelkina delivered a flawless short program, achieving a high-scoring result.

Samodelkina earned 68.47 points from the judges, setting a new personal best. Following the results of the first competition day, the Kazakhstani skater secured 12th place. This ranking allows her to perform first in the penultimate group during the upcoming free skating program.

Notably, the gap between Samodelkina and the bronze-medal position is slightly over 8 points.

Short Program Leaders:

• Ami Nakai (Japan) – 78.71
• Kaori Sakamoto (Japan) – 77.23
• Alysa Liu (USA) – 76.59

This marks the second time Kazakhstan has competed in the women’s individual figure skating at the Olympic Games. Previously, the country was represented by Aiza Mambekova and Elizabeth Tursynbaeva at the 2018 PyeongChang Olympics.

On the night of February 14, a sensational result was recorded in the men’s individual event. Amid mistakes and falls from the main favorites, Kazakhstan’s Mikhail Shaidorov executed a perfect free program to claim the Olympic gold medal.

Sofya Samodelkina is scheduled to perform her decisive free skating program on February 19.