Kostornaia clinches figure skating GP Final crown with stellar performance & new WR as Russians sweep ladies’ podium

Russian figure skating rising star Alena Kostornaia has won her maiden ISU Grand Prix Final in Turin, captivating the audiences with a flawless routine, and finishing well ahead of her teammates and fellow Russian teen sensations.

Kostornaia, 16-year-old disciple of renowned Russian coach Eteri Tutberidze, gave a stunning performance at her first ISU Grand Prix of Figure Skating Final in Turin, Italy, to smash a word record in the short program and in the combined total.

With a comfortable lead after Friday’s short skate, Kostornaia opened her free skate with two triple Axels, one in combination with a double toeloop, and breezed through the rest of her routine without much of an error, earning the record-breaking  247,59 overall score.

Gold medal winner Alena Kostornaia © Global Look Press / AFLO / Raniero Corbelletti

On the podium, Kostornaia was joined by fellow members of #TeamTutberidze, Anna Shcherbakova, who won silver,  and Alexandra Trusova, who had to content with bronze despite making history and becoming the first woman to land a quad flip in the competition, that is in addition to a quad lutz and a quad toeloop in combination with a triple Salchow.

Bronze medal winner Alexandra Trusova

Silver medal winner Anna Shcherbakova

Another Tutberidze star pupil, reigning Olympic and world champion Alina Zagitova was in for a disappointing day two of the Grand Prix Final on Saturday, finishing at the bottom of the table after an error-ridden free skate dashed her hopes for a podium despite a near-perfect short program, that propelled her to the second spot on Friday.

Olympic champion Alina Zagitova

Defending Grand Prix Final champ Rika Kihira also failed to cope with the  pressure, and landed in forth overall, unable to recover from a disastrous short program.

American Bradie Tennell, the only other non-Russian skater in the final, finished fifth.

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