Russia's Yulia Lipnitskaya Falls During Short Program, Going Into Free Skate In Fifth Place

Russian figure skater prodigy Yulia Lipnitskaya, 15, fell on the ice during her short program on Wednesday, dashing her dreams of winning a gold medal.

Lipnitskaya nailed her first two jumps, a triple Lutz-triple toe loop combination, but fell on her last jump, a triple flip, gracefully tumbling on the ice before recovering. Lipnitskaya didn’t let the fall stop her from finishing her routine with two beautiful spins – the highlights of her performance.

“It was just a technical error. She came too close to the boards. There was no pressure,” Lipnitskaya’s coach said of the fall.

Lipnitskaya may have taken a tumble, but she remains in competition and will perform in the free skate Thursday, though it is unlikely she will medal. Lipnitskaya ended the short program in fifth place with a score of 65.23, about nine points behind front runner Yuna Kim of South Korea. Still, fans are still rooting for the 15-year-old wonder, who nailed her short program in the Team Figure Skating competition, helping Russia win gold.

Here she is skating in the 2014 European Figure Skating Championships earlier this year, where she came in first place:

Should Lipnitskaya fail to medal Thursday night, her Russian teammate Adelina Sotnikova, 17, could claim a spot on the podium for Russia. Currently, Sotnikova is in second place with a short program score of 74.64, closely tailing Kim, 23, who has a score of 74.92.

– Olivia Truffaut-Wong

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