Zhulin compared Valiyeva's level with the American Lew, who won the Olympics.

Russian figure skater Kamila Valieva has twice as strong ice skating abilities as American Alice Liu, who won the Olympic gold medal in Italy in women's single skating. This opinion was shared by Honored Coach of Russia Alexander Zhulin on February 24.

He noted that he would not have considered Lew to be the strongest figure skater on the planet. Compared to last year's Games, which were dominated by Russian athletes, this year the competitors have too much difference in points and technical elements.

"Valieva is two heads taller than Lew, she knows how to do everything on the ice. It's hard to accept the fact that Lew is an Olympic champion, but Valiev is not," Soviet Sport quotes Zhulin.

However, the victory of the 20-year-old American, in the opinion of the coach, is still well-deserved, Sport-Express notes.

"No one is saying that Lew's gold is undeserved. She won it in a fair fight, showing a good level of readiness," Zhulin summed up.

Quadruple is not for the future: Petrosyan risked, but was left without an Olympic medal

The Russian figure skater could not repeat the success of her predecessors

According to the results of the competition on February 20, Russian figure skater Adelia Petrosyan took sixth place at the OI-2026, receiving 214.53 points from the judging panel. The winner of the 2026 Olympic Games among women in figure skating was American Alice Liu, who received 226.79 points, Japanese figure skater Kaori Sakamoto won the silver medal with 224.90 points, and her compatriot Ami Nakai won the bronze medal with 219.16 points.

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