Russian figure skaters dominate women's short program at Pyeongchang Olympics

On the women's segment, Li Xiangning ranked the last among the 24 qualifiers on Wednesday, but secured a spot for China at the free skating.

Making her Olympic debut, the 17-year-old Li, China's national champion, conceded she succumbed to nerves since day one.

The same short program, which earned her 58.62 points in previous team event competition, produced a disappointing 52.46 points due to her falling on to the ice after the opening triple flip jump and later under-rotating a triple lutz jump.

As she completed her final spin in the soothing sound track of Italian film Cinema Paradiso, Li stood still for a couple of seconds before dragging herself to the rink side, obviously feeling lost.

Twenty-four of 30 top women's skaters qualify for medal match free skating on Friday. Luckily, the fatal mistakes did cost Li one point, but didn't bar her from reaching the final, which she longed for years.

"I'm too nervous. My arms and legs were as hard as ice that I couldn't feel myself at the rink. But I really wanna have the chance to perform the long program. Luckily, I have now," said Li.

"I will calm down, leaving what happened today behind and rally back," she added. So will all the Chinese figure skaters, hopefully.