Israeli ice skaters Kops, Krasnopolski advance to free skate at Beijing Olympics
Pairs figure skaters end short program in 15th place overall; will hit the ice again Saturday in Israel’s final event at Winter Games
Add ToI as a Preferred Source on GoogleAmy Spiro is a reporter and writer with The Times of Israel
Israeli pair skaters Hailey Kops and Evgeni Krasnopolski managed to just slide by into the free skate at the Beijing Winter Olympics following their short program performance on Friday.
Kops and Krasnopolski ranked 15th overall after the short program with a score of 55.99 — just below their personal best of 56.54 set last year — and will advance along with the rest of the top 16 to Saturday’s medal-deciding round at the 2022 Games.
This is the first Olympics for Kops, 19, a native of the US, and the third Games for Krasnopolski, 33, a native of Ukraine. The duo, who only teamed up last summer, were penalized for a few small mistakes, including Krasnopolski’s errors during the step sequence.
Following the short program, China’s Cong Han and Wenjing Sui were ranked first with 84.41, followed by Russia’s Vladimir Morozov and Evgenia Tarasova with 84.25, and Aleksandr Galliamov and Anastasia Mishina with 82.76.
At the 2018 Olympics, competing with Paige Conners, Krasnopolski came in 19th overall and did not advance to the free skate. At the 2014 Games, Krasnopolski and his then-partner Andrea Davidovich qualified for the free skate and finished 15th overall.
Kops and Krasnopolski are Israel’s last athletes to compete at the Beijing Winter Olympics, which end on Sunday. The big surprise at the Games for Israel was skier Barnabas Szollos, who finished sixth overall at the alpine combined event, the country’s best-ever Olympic skiing finish and tied for its best-ever Winter Olympic result.
Israel, which has sent athletes to every Winter Olympics since 1994, has never won a medal at a Winter Games.
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