Paris (AFP)

At only sixteen years old and for her first World Championships, the young Russian skater Anna Shcherbakova leads the dance in front of the Japanese Rika Kihira at the end of the short program, Wednesday in Stockholm.

Less than a year before the 2022 Olympics (February 4-20), these 2021 Worlds, which take place behind closed doors, will deliver the bulk of the Olympic quotas for Beijing.

With 81 points, Shcherbakova is just under two points ahead of Kihira (79.08, 18) before the free skate scheduled for Friday night.

Another Russian, Elizaveta Tuktamysheva, crowned world champion in 2015 and aged 24, is in third place (78.86).

"I miss the stands full of people who cheer you on before and during your program. Maybe that's why I was so nervous," says Shcherbakova, "delighted" to participate in her "first international competition of the year. 'year "as she had been" sad "about the cancellation of others before, the European Championships for example.

"I controlled my every move, I'm happy to have succeeded in all my technical elements, especially the combination of jumps," she adds.

Disappointing performance on the other hand for the other expected young Russian spinning top, Alexandra Trusova, also sixteen years old.

The new student of Evgeni Plushenko is only in twelfth position, nearly fifteen points from the podium (64.82), heavily penalized by a performance without a combination of jumps.

“I don't think I knew how to manage my emotions, I'm nervous in competition lately,” admits Trusova.

How many "quads" will the Russian teenager, adept like Shcherbakova of quadruple rotations, be offering in her free skate?

"I won't say anything, you'll see," she says.

- Tuktamysheva six years later -

Unlike Trusova, the top three skated very cleanly on Swedish ice.

In particular Tuktamysheva, credited with the best technical score, and the only one with Kihira to have bet - with success - on a triple Axel, the most difficult triple rotation to master, since it actually requires completing three and a half laps in l 'air.

“I worked a lot on my triple Axel, it goes well, but I knew there was almost an entire program left after. I only felt relieved after all my jumps were behind me. There, I said to myself: + Don't do anything stupid on the sequence of steps or the pirouette + "that come to the end," she says.

Tuktamysheva had not skated at the Worlds since his coronation in 2015.

"It was all the more important for me to skate there cleanly, she said. It was my best performance of the season, I'm delighted that it is happening here."

"I think it's more difficult to qualify for the World Championships today than to win them in 2015, the level is much higher," said Alexei Mishin's protégé.

Under these conditions, will she tackle a "quad" on Friday to stand up to the competition?

"I can do the quadruple toe loop, but the most important thing for me is to be clean and strong. Two Axel trebles, I think it's already good," replied Tuktamysheva.

Kihira, on the other hand, should attempt a quadruple Salchow.

"I improved on it compared to last season," promises the young Japanese.

© 2021 AFP