Kamila 'Miss Perfect' Valieva redefining figure skating as she takes Beijing 2022 by storm

From James Toney in Beijing

Kamila Valieva clearly doesn't have much time for managing expectations, which is hardly surprising when she's been dubbed 'Miss Perfect'.

Valieva is just 15 but is already redefining her sport as she prepares to be the leading star of these Winter Olympics.

You need to search out some new superlatives for the Russian teenager when she takes to the ice because she's like nothing figure skating has ever seen before.

Olympics are often remembered through the lens of their leading lady figure skaters, the effortlessly enchanting Katarina Witt in Sarajevo, all-American girl Nancy Kerrigan in Lillehammer and the unerringly flawless Kim Yuna in Vancouver. The practically perfect Valieva is now primed to join their legend.

At the recent European Championships she won gold by an improbable 22 points, despite a routine that was far from, er, perfect.

She tumbled on a triple axel but then landed three impeccable quadruple jumps to finish ahead of team-mates Anna Shcherbakova and Alexandra Trusova.

And there was a world record too with her short program, which she was just fractions behind as she opened her campaign in the team skating in Beijing, where Russia are firmly expected to take gold tomorrow.

"Kamila was perfect," said Russian captain Nikita Katsalapov, warming to the theme. "She's in perfect shape. We're very happy for her, happy for the team. She was absolutely glorious, everything was done very cleanly."

It's 36 years since Canada's Kurt Browning became the first man to land a quad at the World Championships - and it's fair to say times have changed.

Compare sepia-tinted footage of Games past and Valieva and it looks like a different sport.

She is consistently pushing boundaries, under the relentless charge of coach Eteri Tutberidze, who also trains her team-mates Shcherbakova and Trusova at her famed hard knocks Sambo 70 skating club in Moscow.

Her total dedication to her athletes is legendary, their slavish commitment in return is unquestioning.

"I feel the strength and confidence she sends me, and it helps me cope with the excitement," said Valieva.

"I always want to please her with my performance, to show that everything that has been invested in me is not in vain.

"Eteri knows how to always work, day and night, seven days per week, 12 months per year. I don’t know of any other coach who works so much, she knows me better than anyone else ever will.

"Everything is very simple, she just fanatically loves figure skating. She is a very creative person, she sees exactly what music and what image will suit this or that athlete, she lives our programs in every detail.

"You need three things to be successful in sport - it's the athlete, it's the trainer and it's the parents.

"I was three when I started skating, this has been my life for 12 years. My parents have no days off, no holidays, they've given up their life for this dream. It's my dream, it's their dream and it's Eteri's dream too."

Valieva landed the triple axel in today's short program, for context something an elite cast of only 12 women have ever done in competition.

In many ways she has struggled more with the triple axel, which lands with a force four times the skaters' body weight, then she has the higher scoring quad. The fact she pulled it off here is ominous for her rivals in the days ahead.

"It's not just about jumps, the integrity of what I do is important - my coach and I want to give people aesthetic pleasure," she adds.

"I have no secret, I just work, work, work. There is a quote that I love which says 'Art is jealous: it demands that the person surrendered to him entirely'. I'm completely devoted to my art, figure skating."

It would be wrong to label Valieva as someone who is only about jumps, a charge often aimed at their magnificently swaggeringly arrogant Russian Evgeni Plushenko, who won Olympic men's gold in 2006.

Take out the triple and quads and you'd watch her free skate transfixed - her warm-ups alone are worth the price of admission.

Standards are sky-high – and they need to be considering she has chosen Ravel’s iconic Bolero as the soundtrack for her free program next week. She’s spent time watching Torvill and Dean’s version from 1984, which, of course, was famously perfect. No pressure.

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