Aleksandr Selevko makes Estonian figure skating history by winning world champs medal
Estonian figure skater Aleksandr Selevko delivered a powerful performance in the men's short program at the ISU World Figure Skating Championships in Prague, improving his previous personal best by more than five points to take bronze, the first Estonian figure skater to ever reach the medals at World Championships level.
The short program is the gateway to the free skate later on in the competition, but the Estonian did much better than to merely qualify.
Only U.S. star Ilia Malinin with 111.29 points, and France's Adam Siao Him Fa (101.85) beat Selevko's total of 96.49; Malinin himself had set a PB and all-time third highest world championship score.
A total of 36 skaters took to the ice in the Czech Republic, with Selevko in the penultimate, fifth cohort, scheduled to start a little after 4 p.m. The Estonian is scheduled to start at 16:05 Thursday.
Selevko, 24, was fifth at the European Championships in Sheffield, getting him a spot ahead of his brother, Mihkail, at the Milano Cortina Olympics the following month. The Estonian finished 16th at the Winter Games, where he delivered some surprising performances.
Malinin took Olympic gold with Team USA and though he finished only eighth in the individual event, he went into Thursday's competition as reigning world champion.
Of other ones to watch, Japan's Yuma Kagiyama, who has something of a collection of silver medals, is always a strong contender. Cha Junhwan (South Korea), European champion Nika Egadze (Georgia) and Italy's Matteo Rizzo and Daniel Grassl can be added to the list.
Selevko on the day put in a flawless performance to bag an impressive 96.49 points from the judges, improving his PB and the Estonian record by more than five points; in November last year, he scored 91.28 points at a Grand Prix event in Canada.
Even at the Milan Cortina Olympic Games, only three competitors scored higher than 96.49 points.
Selevko held on to that top three position, making Estonian sporting history: No Estonian figure skater had previously won a small medal at the World Championships. Behind him were Japan's Shun Sato (95.84), Canada's Stephen Gogolev (94.38), and Kagiyama.
Post performance, Selevko said: "I was able to control my emotions during the program better than at the Olympics and execute all the jumps properly. I feel that I am in good shape, and if I can maintain a strong mental state, I can skate well. In the free skate, I want to give all my energy to the audience and hope that I can be just as satisfied with it as I was with the short program."
Despite all that, Coach Alexey Letov added that Selevko still has room for improvement. "Aleksandr performed the program very well and confidently; his score shows that the judges liked what he did on the ice. He feels the music and skated excellently," said the coach. "We will add two quadruple jumps to the short program, and we are working on building enough confidence for that," was his assessment.
The men's free skate final takes place Saturday and will be carried by ETV2 and ERR's Sport portal from 1.25 p.m.
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Editor: Andrew Whyte
