Evgenia Medvedeva RUS
2018 Olympics free skate
The Olympic season was not what Evgenia Medvedeva was prepared for. After dominating for two seasons on the senior circuit, she had an unexpected setback during the fall when a foot injury forced her out of the Grand Prix Final and Russian Nationals.
When she came back at Europeans in January, she didn’t exude the kind of confidence that we’ve seen from her in the past two years. And so she entered the Olympics with many wondering if we would see that confidence again this season.
Her short program in the Team Event changed it all, and she skated freer in the individual event than we had seen her skate all season.
This Anna Karenina free skate was also an early-season change after experimenting with a different program in earlier competitions - and it was a welcomed departure from the choreography that we have been used to from her collaboration with Ilia Averbukh. You can be sure that skating observers are intrigued about how her coaching team change during the past few months will transform her skating next season.