Anastasia Smirnova claims bronze in moguls
Anastasia Smirnova added another medal to the Russian Olympic Committee's (ROC) growing tally at Beijing 2022 by clinching bronze in the women's moguls.
Smirnova finished on a score of 77.72 as American Jaelin Kauf took silver with 80.28 and Jakara Anthony of Australia's 83.09 was good enough for gold.
The 19-year-old's third-place finish matches that she achieved at the World Championship in Almaty last year, where she won gold in the dual moguls.
#Beijing2022 Medals - #Freestyle Women’s moguls🥇 Jakara Anthony 🇦🇺 🥈 Jaelin Kauf 🇺🇸 🥉 Anastasiia Smirnova 🇷🇺
— Nichole (@NicholeTheOtter) February 6, 2022
As a result of Smirnova's performance, the ROC improved its tally to five medals with one gold, two silvers, and two bronze medals and comes shortly after Alexander Bolshunov won the men's 30km skiathlon to claim the Russian Olympic Committee's first triumph at the Winter Games in Beijing – a performance which was quickly lauded by the Kremlin.
Later on, president of the Freestyle Federation of Russia Alexey Kurashov spoke to Championat and said the organization was "very happy" with Smirnova's escapades.
"She is smart," beamed Kurashov. "We fought, but the [other] competitors had very strong programs.
"Vika [Viktoriia] Lazarenko could not break through [from the qualifying stage], [but] she performed with an injury. They considered the issue in order to remove her from the competition, but she was also great, she gave her best.
"We are very pleased with the bronze," Kurashov reiterated. "Today it is absolutely deserved and worthy."
