Shcherbakova wins figure skating gold as Valieva collapses

BEIJING (AP) — Anna Shcherbakova won a stunning gold medal in women’s figure skating at the Beijing Games on Thursday night, while teammate Kamila Valieva tumbled all the way out of the medals after a mistake-filled end to her controversial Olympics.

Shcherbakova performed a near-flawless free skate to leap over the 15-year-old Valieva, the leader after the short program.

Valieva threw up her arms in resignation and disgust after her program.

Russian teammate Alexandra Trusova leaped to silver with her quad-packed program while Japan’s Kaori Sakamoto held onto the bronze medal.