Figure Skating | Tuktamysheva lands triple axel, takes women’s lead at worlds

Elizaveta Tuktamy-­sheva has been so far ahead of the rest of the women’s figure skating field this season, she didn’t think twice about adding a much more difficult element to her repertoire of high-flying jumps.
It was far riskier to attempt it in the most important event of the year.
The 18-year-old Russian landed a triple axel on her first leap of the figure skating world championships yesterday, opening up a big lead over the rest of the field after the short program.
“When I landed the triple axel, I got goosebumps and I thought, ‘Is this a dream or did I really just do the triple axel at the world championships?'” Tuktamysheva said.
In the pairs event, Canadian duo Meagan Duhamel and Eric Radford wrapped up a perfect season by holding off two Chinese teams in the free skate to capture the gold. It was Canada’s first pairs title since Jamie Sale and David Pelletier won in 2001.
Only a handful of women skaters have successfully landed a triple axel in international competition, among them Tonya Harding, Midori Ito and Mao Asada. Tuktamysheva landed the difficult jump in one of the biggest competitions of her career after only practicing it for a couple months.
“It’s 50 percent I could land it and 50 percent I could miss it, anything could happen with this jump,” Tuktamysheva said.
Skating to Maurice Ravel’s “Bolero,” Tuktamysheva dazzled not just with her jumps — her footwork was crisp and her spins tight and blisteringly fast.
She scored 77.62 points, the third-highest short program tally since the International Skating Union changed its judging system in 2004. Sixteen-year-old Elena Radionova of Russia was more than eight points behind in second, while Satoko Miyahara of Japan finished third on her 17th birthday.
While the Russians were out in front as expected, the skaters believed to be their biggest challengers, the Americans, faltered.
Both Gracie Gold and Ashley Wagner struggled with their opening triple lutz-triple toeloop combinations. Gold, the bronze medalist in Sochi, took an extra step on her triple lutz and didn’t perform the second jump, and three-time U.S. champion Wagner fell on her toeloop.
Gold was in eighth place after the short program, just behind American teammate Polina Edmunds. Wagner was in 11th place.
For Gold, it was yet another disappointment in a season she’d rather forget. After pulling out of the Grand Prix Finals in December with a stress fracture in her foot, she failed to defend her title at U.S. Nationals and finished fourth at the Four Continents Championships.
“Knowing that I can be in the top and I’m not there is frustrating,” Gold said. “I’ve just had so many ups and so many downs, it’s not like me.”
Wagner, too, was hoping for more consistency to break the United States’ nine-year medal drought at worlds.
“Today was a horrible day, there’s no other way to say it,” Wagner said.
Duhamel and Radford, who are two-time world bronze medalists, overcame a shaky performance to take home the pairs gold.
After a seventh-place finish at the Sochi Games last year, the pair decided to continue their careers and skate another year — and haven’t lost since. They’ve won all six international events they’ve entered this season, including the Grand Prix Finals and Four Continents.
“This is a very personal victory. Every single victory along the way this season had a very special meaning,” Duhamel said.
Sui Wenjing and Han Cong of China finished second, and 35-year-old veterans Pang Qing and Tong Jian, competing in their 16th world championships, took home the bronze. Justin Bergman, Shanghai, AP