Russian figure skaters shine at Youth Olympics

Figure skaters have brought Team Russia four medals, including two golds, at the maiden 2012 Winter Youth Olympic Games in Innsbruck, Austria.

Elizaveta Tuktamysheva skated to a highly-anticipated gold in the ladies event, producing a stunning routine in her free program to take the total of 173.1 points.

The 14-year-old confessed that being a favorite has put her under huge pressure.

“I felt this stress all the time,” she told Sport-Express newspaper. “At the stages of the ‘adult’ Grand Prix nobody expected particular results from me, so I went out and calmly performed my program. But in Innsbruck, I knew that I just couldn’t fail as I was defending the honor of the country at the Youth Olympics.”

Another Russian, Adelina Sotnikova, finished second for silver, while China's Zijun Li completed the podium.

Sergey Mozgov and Anna Yanovskaya won gold in the ice free dance. The Russian duo, who also finished in first place in the short dance several days earlier, scored a total of 149.96 points.

Ukrainians Aleksandra Nazarova and Maksim Nikitin claimed silver, while another Russian pair of Maria Simonova and Dmitry Dragun took bronze.

Russian currently sits second behind China in the Youth Olympics medals count, having so far bagged five golds, two silver and four bronze medals.