Russian Yevgenia Medvedeva ran away with the Grand Prix Final title, the biggest senior-level victory of the 16-year-old’s budding career, in Barcelona on Saturday.
Medvedeva, who also won Skate America in October, totaled a personal-best 222.54 points, shaking a stuffed animal when her score came up in the kiss-and-cry area.
“I didn’t really expect this result here, but I worked really hard for it,” Medvedeva said through a translator, according to The Associated Press. “I am very pleased with my first senior season.”
The reigning World junior champion beat Japan’s Satoko Miyahara by 13.69 points, the second-largest women’s margin at the Grand Prix Final under the decade-old scoring system. Russian Yelena Radionova earned bronze.
Americans Ashley Wagner and Gracie Gold finished fourth and fifth in the six-skater field.
Three-time World champion Mao Asada of Japan was sixth, erring on jumps, including stepping out of the landing of her opening triple Axel.
NBC will air Grand Prix Final coverage Dec. 20 from 4-6 p.m. ET. The Grand Prix Final is the most prestigious annual competition outside of the World Championships.
Medvedeva, 16, landed seven triple jumps, including two triple-triple combinations, without any major errors.
She became the fifth-youngest women’s Grand Prix Final winner behind Tara Lipinski (twice), Asada and Michelle Kwan. Asada holds the margin of victory record from 2012.
Wagner beat her personal-best free skate by 7.98 points and improved from sixth after the short program. She just missed becoming the first U.S. woman to make four straight Grand Prix Final podiums.
“I can’t afford to have horrific skates and then have to try to make it up in the long program,” Wagner said, according to U.S. Figure Skating. “This sport isn’t about being a long program or a short program skater, it’s about being the whole package. That’s my mission.”
Gold, the top qualifier into her first Grand Prix Final, had a disastrous free skate with numerous jumping errors. The 2014 U.S. champion twice put her hands on the ice and singled a planned triple jump. She was also fifth after the short program.
Gold has seven times finished between fourth and sixth in individual standings at the Olympics, Worlds, Grand Prix Final and Four Continents Championships, earning zero individual medals at any of those competitions.
“We’ll have to reevaluate the jump content of my programs because I’ve only done one clean program this season,” Gold said, according to U.S. Figure Skating. “At this point, you should be skating clean programs. I’m pretty far behind in that regard, and my consistency is lacking.”
Wagner and Gold will go head-to-head at the U.S. Championships in St. Paul, Minn., in January.
Earlier Saturday, Canadian ice dancers Kaitlyn Weaver and Andrew Poje won their second straight Grand Prix Final, topping the free dance after they also had the best short dance Friday.
They totaled 182.66 points, beating U.S. Olympians Madison Chock and Evan Bates by 5.11.
Italitan 2014 World champions Anna Cappellini and Luca Lanotte took bronze.
The competition was missing the reigning Olympic gold and silver medalists Americans Meryl Davis and Charlie White and Canadians Tessa Virtue and Scott Moir, both sitting out their second straight season, and reigning World champions Gabriella Papadakis and Guillaume Cizeron of France due to Papadakis’ concussion.
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Monster score for Evgenia Medvedeva, who wins the ladies title handily. #GPFBarcelona pic.twitter.com/28x6u08gpN
— IceTalk Podcast (@IceTalkPodcast) December 12, 2015
Evgenia Medvedeva, gold medalist of the Ladies Sr Final! Miyahara 2nd, Radionova 3rd. ¡Standings! #GPFBarcelona pic.twitter.com/c3hE6XjbED
— GPF Barcelona 2015 (@gpfbarcelona) December 12, 2015
Kaitlyn Weaver and Andrew Poje win the Ice Dance Final of the #GPFBarcelona. Complete standings: pic.twitter.com/qUZaAmATgX
— GPF Barcelona 2015 (@gpfbarcelona) December 12, 2015
