Olympic champion Anna Shcherbakova is letting it all sink in: 'I feel an unbelievable happiness'

In the hours after her Olympic victory, figure skater Anna Shcherbakova was still letting the moment sink in.

"I haven't realised what [has] happened," the 17-year-old said of her triumph at the Olympic Winter Games Beijing 2022. "When someone calls me an Olympic champion, I can't believe they talk to me."

"It probably takes time to realise it."

The world champion a year ago, Shcherbakova became the first female skater since Yuna Kim at Vancouver 2010 to follow that title up with an Olympic gold in the year after.

She did it with impeccable skating, going from second after the short program to leap into the top position.

ROC teammate Alexandra Trusova finished with silver and Japan's Sakamoto Kaori with bronze. The short program leader, Kamila Valieva, fell to fourth after an error-strewn free skate.

The results are provisional.

Shcherbakova's impressive free skate included two quadruple flips at the start - including one in combination. The jump had given her trouble throughout the season, but she got it back right when she needed it.

Her performance matched her approach for much of the last two seasons: Measured, focused and fierce.

"From one element to another, I skated very concentrated [and] did not let myself relax for a second," she said of the long program, which she scored a 175.75 for, a personal best, to total 255.95 overall, a win by 4.22 points over second-place skater Trusova.

Shcherbakova's golden moment was the cap of a steady rise in recent years, having first won a national title at age 14 in 2018, going on to capture the silver medal at world juniors later that season.

She'd win three consecutive national titles, from December 2018-2020, but truly announce herself at the top of the sport with her