Mone Chiba’s elegant free skate edges quad queen and mom Alexandra Ignatova for Cup of China win

SHENZHEN, China (AP) — The returning Russian quad queen of figure skating was edged for victory Saturday at the Cup of China by the elegant free skate of Japan’s Mone Chiba.

Alexandra Ignatova landed a quad lutz early in what was the highest-scoring free skate aiming to be the first mother ever to win a Grand Prix event.

The 22-year-old Ignatova, who welcomed a baby son last year, also was competing in her first major international event since taking silver at the 2022 Beijing Olympics as Alexandra Trusova. Those Winter Games ended days before Russia launched a full military invasion of Ukraine leading to an International Skating Union ban from its competitions. Russian skaters now compete as approved neutral individuals.

Chiba led after the short program and produced an error-free skate to the classical piano of “Clair de Lune” by composer Claude Debussy.

The fourth-placed finisher in Milan at the 2026 Olympics, Chiba tearfully put her hands to her face on completing her program.

Her winning total score of 224.48 was just over three points ahead of Ignatova, whose free skate score of 148.90 edged Chiba by 0.5.

Bouquets of flowers from fans rained down on the ice after Ignatova’s skate to the Kate Bush song “Running Up That Hill.”

Ignatova came off the ice into a hug with her coach Eteri Tutberidze, who was the controversial coach of the Russian skaters who swept the Olympic podium in China four years ago.

Hae-in Lee of Korea placed third Saturday, trailing nearly 14 points behind Chiba. Fourth-placed Anastasiia Gubanova of Georgia had been second after the short program.

In pairs, Russians Anastasia Mishina and Aleksandr Galliamov grabbed gold with a total score of 209.84. Georgia’s Anastasiia Metelkina and Luka Berulava (198.27) and Japan’s Yuna Nagaoka and Sumitada Moriguchi (181.50) took silver and bronze, respectively.

Canada’s Jazmine Desrochers and Kieran Thrasher (153.08) placed eighth in the event.

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The Associated Press