Russian figure skater Medvedeva in lead after short program at Autumn Classic in Canada

Russia’s two-time 2018 Olympic silver medalist in figure skating Yevgeniya Medvedeva took the lead after a short program performance at the fifth edition of the Autumn Classic international tournament, which is underway in Canada’s Oakville.

Referees awarded the Russian figure skater 70.98 points for her short program, which she performed to music of ‘Orange Colored Sky’ song of US singer Natalie Cole.

Medvedeva’s closest contenders after the short program is US figure skater Bradie Tennell with 69.26 points and Mae Berenice Meite of France with 58.23 points.

This is the first official tournament for the 18-year-old figure skater after she announced in May a decision to part with her Coach Eteri Tutberidze and start working with Canadian specialist Brian Orser. Medvedeva told journalists at that time that she decided to move to Canada and train there, but never planned to change her citizenship to continue performing under the national flag of Russia.

At the 2018 Winter Olympic Games in South Korea’s PyeongChang, Medvedeva won two silver medals - in team’s competition and in women’s singles. She is also a two-time world champion, two-time European champion and two-time winner of ISU Grand Prix of Figure Skating finals.

The figure skater achieved all of the mentioned above awards with her former Coach Eteri Tutberidze, who coached her since 2007.

Canada’s Brian Orser, 56, also works with two-time Olympic champion in men's singles Yuzuru Hanyu of Japan and two-times world champion Javier Hernandez of Spain, as well as with ladies' singles skaters Elizabeth Tursynbaeva of Kazakhstan and Sonia Lafuente of Spain.