10.02 Under Putin's Gaze, Russia Schools the World in Team Figure Skating

SOCHI, February 9 (R-Sport) – Russian President Vladimir Putin gazed down approvingly from the stands as his country schooled the rest of the world in figure skating, winning its first gold medal of the Sochi Olympics in the process.

Sunday saw Russia win the inaugural team event in the Olympic figure skating program, an eight-round shootout with ten other nations at the Iceberg Skating Palace on the Black Sea coast.

Julia Lipnitskaia was the star of the show, a 15-year-old prodigy mature beyond her years who was the only competitor to win both short and free programs other than Charlie White and Meryl Davis in the ice dance.

Despite being more than twice his precocious compatriot’s age, Evgeny Plushenko came second in the short program and won his free skate on Sunday as Russia charged to the top of the leaderboard, eventually winning it by 10 points from Canada.

"It's the first medal for Russia this Olympics. I love being first," Plushenko said. "I have such a great team around me; my wife, my coach, my choreographer, my manager. They help me so much and I skated for them, for my sons. I would love to have more medals."

The Canadians came into the event as overwhelming favorite for gold with the biggest squad of any nation, but never recovered from Patrick Chan’s disappointing third place behind Plushenko in the short program.