Viktoriia Safonova. Photo courtesy of Belarus' NOC
MINSK, 18 February (BelTA) – Belarusian figure skater Viktoriia Safonova and her coach Oleg Vasiliev have summed up her performance at the 25th Winter Olympic Games in Italy, BelTA learned from the Belarus’ NOC press service.
In the short program, Viktoriia Safonova scored 54.57 points and finished 26th out of 29 participants. The Belarusian figure skater’s Olympic campaign has come to an end, as 24 skaters advanced to the free program. Four years ago in China, our athlete finished 12th.
“The preparation conditions before the Olympics were good. The lack of many competitions didn’t affect me much. I knew what I was preparing for and what I was working towards. At the end of January, I competed at the Belarusian Figure Skating Championships, tested the program in a home atmosphere, and that was enough for me. At the start of the season, we changed both the short and free programs. One jump was being scored lower, so we made changes. At the Russian Grand Prix stages, I often skate first, so here in Milan that didn’t bother me,” Viktoriia Safonova said.
“Not everything went according to plan. Viktoriia performed a 3-2 combination instead of the planned 3-3. The reason was nervousness, a lack of proper experience in international competitions. Vika was ready, she skated well in practice. But apparently, she couldn’t handle the nerves and made a small error that cost us about five points. Despite her experience and excellent preparation, both technical and physical, Vika wasn’t herself, because this is real Olympics,” Oleg Vasiliev noted.
On 18 February, four Belarusian athletes will compete at the 25th Winter Olympic Games. At 12:00, the women’s aerials qualification will begin, featuring Hanna Huskova, Anastasiya Andryianava, and Anna Derugo. Also at noon, the first run of the women’s slalom will start, with Maria Shkanova competing for the podium.
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