Olympic women's figure skating set for free program finish

The women's free skate at Olympic Winter Games Beijing 2022 is set to take centre ice on Thursday (17 February) evening inside the Capital Indoor Stadium in Beijing.

World record holder Kamila Valieva leads after the short program of the penultimate figure skating event of these Games, with ROC teammate Anna Shcherbakova in second and Japan's Sakamoto Kaori in third.

The results of Valieva, who, according to a CAS decision, will continue to participate in the Olympic Winter Games Beijing 2022, are provisional since there are pending proceedings with regard to the results of an anti-doping test of the athlete.

The 15-year-old from the ROC scored a 82.16 in the short on Tuesday (15 February) evening, staying upright on a triple Axel attempt before completing a triple flip and triple Lutz-triple toe-loop in combination.

Both Shcherbakova (80.20) and Sakamoto (79.84) are within three points of the leader.

While Shcherbakova is the reigning world champion, 21-year-old Sakamoto is one of just two top 10 finishers (along with Loena Hendrickx, who sits seventh) who skated at PyeongChang 2018. Sakamoto finished sixth there.

Reigning world bronze medallist Alexandra Trusova is fourth (74.60) after the short following a fall on her triple Axel attempt, while Higuchi Wakaba of Japan is fifth (73.51).

Higuchi became the fifth woman in Olympic history to land a triple Axel at the Games in the short program.

You Young of South Korea is in sixth place (70.09) after her triple Axel was downgraded in the short, the Youth Olympic Games Lausanne 2020 champion sandwiched between Higuchi and Hendrickx (70.09).

Alysa Liu, 16, is the top American in eighth place (69.50), less than five points back of Trusova in fourth.

Korean Kim Yelim (67.78)