Medal update: Anna Shcherbakova captures Olympic title as Trusova claims silver; Sakamoto wins bronze

World champion Anna Shcherbakova of the ROC is now Olympic champion, as well.

Shcherbakova won the women's free skate at the Olympic Winter Games Beijing 2022 on Thursday (17 February) inside the Capital Indoor Stadium, skating to a personal best score of 175.75 to total 255.95, leaping to first place and capturing the gold medal.

The 17-year-old had sat in second place after the short program, but wins the Olympic title after completing two massive quadruple jumps in her free skate, including one in combination.

Training mate Alexandra Trusova won silver with 251.73 total, while Sakamoto Kaori of Japan claimed the bronze medal, scoring 233.13.

Short program leader Kamila Valieva stumbled in her free skate, finishing in fourth place. She struggled to stay upright on a quad Salchow and triple Axel to open her program, then fell on the back end of a quad toe-triple Salchow combination. She was fifth in the free skate, totaling 224.09 overall.

The results are provisional.

"Honestly I didn't realize yet that the Olympic Games has already gone," Shcherbakova, 17, told U.S. broadcaster NBC. "I just know that I skated clean and I'm so happy, but I didn't realize the result."

She continued: "After every competition, I know better how to skate clean. ... It's like I'm only happy, I didn't realize what happened. I can't feel that the Olympic Games finished for me."

Japan's Higuchi Wakaba landed another triple Axel to finish in fifth place overall with a 214.44, while Youth Olympic Games Lausanne 2020 champion You Young came in sixth with a 213.09.

Alysa Liu was the top American, scoring a 208.95 for seventh place.

See the full results from the women single event here.

More to come.