Russian pairs skater Yevgenia Tarasova sliced her leg falling on her partner’s skate in practice Wednesday.
Hours later, Tarasova and Vladimir Morozov skated to third place in the short program at the world championships in Helsinki.
“We were thinking about withdrawing because after this incident we left the ice immediately, there was a long break off the ice, we didn’t know how I would feel in skates,” Tarasova said afterward. “But when I was asked “Will you skate?” I said “I will!” And I wasn’t thinking about the pain during our performance.”
Morozov called her “a hero.