Alina Zagitova of Russia, just 15, set a world record in the short program, edging out her countrywoman, the comparably ancient Evgenia Medvedeva.
Zagitova’s combo by itself scored 13.71 points, outranking Medvedeva’s triple flip-triple toeloop, which got 11.96.
But the judges showed a slight preference for Medvedeva in all five of the more subjective categories like presentation, keeping the margin to a thin 1.31 points. Medvedeva skated to Chopin, while Zagitova chose music from the dance film “Black Swan,” with some “Swan Lake” interpolated.
Still, Zagitova’s total score of 82.92 was a new world record for a short program.