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Kamila Valieva of Team ROC reacts after skating during the Women Single Skating Short Program on day eleven of the Beijing 2022 Winter Olympic Games at Capital Indoor Stadium on February 15, 2022 in Beijing, China. (Photo by Harry How/Getty Images)

Russian figure skater Kamila Valieva took the lead in the women’s short program on Tuesday amid a whirlwind of controversy surrounding last week’s revelation that the 15-year-old tested positive for a banned drug prior to the 2022 Beijing Winter Olympics. 

Valieva looked emotional after her performance, advancing with a score of 82.16. 

She is the overwhelming favorite for the women’s figure skating gold medal alongside Russian teammates Alexandra Trusova and Anna Shcherbakova, who are aiming for the first sweep by any nation of the women’s Olympic podium. 

The top 25 skaters in Tuesday’s event will advance to the women’s free skating medal event on Thursday. An additional skater advances because of Valieva's qualification.

Silver medal winner China's Eileen Gu celebrates during the venue award ceremony for the women's slopestyle finals at the 2022 Winter Olympics, Tuesday, Feb. 15, 2022, in Zhangjiakou, China. (AP Photo/Francisco Seco)

Via AP

If Eileen Gu’s latest performance is best gauged by how she came through big under pressure, or how she somehow keeps balancing three different and difficult events with the demands of her burgeoning celebrity, then her high-wire act Tuesday at the Olympicsmust have felt like a victory.

The second-place finish she "settled for" after all those harrowing trips down the slopestyle course — it was more a matter of opinion than a loss.

After the nine Olympic judges perched above the rails and jumps formed their opinions and