The third individual event of the Olympics is the Women’s event and we’re going to break down our predictions for it. This competition has been tainted by a doping scandal and the choice to let Kamila Valieva compete, so this is gonna be a rough one to talk about.
We all collectively believe Valieva will be in 1st at the end of this competition, whether she retains this placement in the future is another question. Despite an emotionally gruelling week that has seen her struggle in some practices, unless she has monumentally bad skates, her content will carry her through. We don’t agree with the decision made by CAS to let her compete despite testing positive for a banned substance at Russian Nationals in December, so she is not featured in our table below. We wish Valieva the best, as a child should not be put in this situation.
If trends are to be followed, we expect ROC’s Trusova and Shcherbakova to be battling it out for 2nd and 3rd. Shcherbakova has been struggling, apparently due to skating in new boots, but every time someone doubts her ability to succeed she displays the mental resilience to make it through. If Trusova were to skate clean in both programs, a feat she never accomplishes, the value of her including the triple axel and five quads would make her a favourite for the win.
Moving away from the podium-that-likely-will-never-make-it-to-the-podium, it may be a battle between Japan’s Sakamoto and Higuchi, as well as Belgium’s Hendrickx and South Korea’s You for the remaining top places. Higuchi and You will both be attempting triple axels. In recent competitions, Higuchi’s has been the more reliable of the two, but both are subject to inconsistent skates, although they also have programs that can be showstoppers if performed at their best. Sakamoto and Hendrickx don’t have any ultra-c elements, but their skating skills, the quality of their jumps, and their wonderful performances should put them in the mix if they’re clean.
One thing’s for sure, it’s going to be a memorable event, though mostly for all the wrong reasons. And there’ll forever be an asterisk against this Olympic result.
| Elli’s predictions | Lois’s predictions | Sarah’s predictions | |
| 2 | Anna Shcherbakova | Anna Shcherbakova | Alexandra Trusova |
| 3 | Alexandra Trusova | Alexandra Trusova | Kaori Sakamoto |
| 4 | Kaori Sakamoto | Kaori Sakamoto | Anna Shcherbakova |
| 5 | Loena Hendrickx | Wakaba Higuchi | Loena Hendrickx |
| 6 | Wakaba Higuchi | Loena Hendrickx | Wakaba Higuchi |
Don’t count out: Young You
