Third place figure skater Anna Shcerbakova of Russia ascended from third place to win the Women’s Gold at the 2021 Gran Premio d’Italia (Grand Prix of Italy) in Torino, Italy. Her teammate Maiia Khromykh Teammate took home the silver in her first Grand Prix appearance. Loena Hendrickx of Belgium won the bronze.

But even though South Korean national champion Ye-lim Kim came in sixth, she had some dazzling moments.  

She landed six triple jumps.

But two triple Lutz jumps received an edge call, for which Ye-lim Kim was penalized in the scoring. A Lutz jump is a toe-pick assisted jump with an entrance from a back outside edge, with the skater landing on the back outside edge of the opposite foot”. In this case, Ye-lim Kim was deemed to have landed on the wrong edge. Therefore, the jumps received negative grades of execution.

Ye-lim Kim also popped a loop. When she was suppose to pull in to start her rotation, she opened up and did a single revolution instead. It was disappointing, but her successes, the times when she did not pull back far exceeded the times when she did.

It’s always bittersweet when the skaters who are technically correct and perfect are less exciting than the ones who have flawed moments, but reach for the sky and sometimes touch the sun, if only briefly.

Ye-lim Kim finished in sixth place overall.

1. Anna Shcherbakova, Russia, 236.78 points

2. Maiia Khromykh, Russia, 226.35

3. Loena Hendrickx, Belgium, 219.05

4. Mai Mihara, Japan, 214.95

5. Satoko Miyahara, Japan, 209.57

6. Kim Yelim, South Korea, 193.50

7. Sofia Samodurova, Russia, 180.59

8. Lim Eunsoo, South Korea, 179.58

9. Zhu Yi, China, 171.25

10. Nicole Schott, Germany, 167.20

11. Lara Naki Gutmann, Italy, 158.57

12. Lucrezia Beccari, Italy, 148.29