Figure skating: is the big stage ready for 'baby' stars?

The women's figure skating is an art of grace and technique. Lightness and skill mix on the ice where the elegant skating athletes receive cheers and flowers, but also suffer falls and disappointments. The maturity of interpretation that is required to couples, in the single lady seems to leave the space to the freshness of the still immature bodies of the youngest athletes. But they must be big enough to know how to raise.

Just like will have to do the "baby star" number one of these Olympics: Yulia Lipnitskaya, slip in the short program yesterday night to the tune of "You do not give up on love" by Mark Minkov. The jury gives a 65.23 (1 deduction).

At the end of the Ladies Single short program two of the three first position are occupied by the "veterans": Yuna Kim (23), gold medallist in Vancouver 2010 Winter Olympic Games and Carolina Kostner (27), 2012 World Champion. Between them the young Adelina Sotnikova (17) which is actually taking the place of hailed Yulia.

The pressure of the Russian public yesterday evening must have been felt on the small Yulia: coming out of the quarter-final against Finland Hockey the hosts eyes have appeared in figure skating. After the disappointment about the retirement of the national hero Plushenko and the tribute made to the gold-pair Trankov-Volosozohar, yesterday night again the Ice Iceberg Palace is surrounded by "Ru-si-a" flags full of expectations.

Carolina Kostner is a perfect sample of the difficulties inherent this discipline: in Torino 2006 she was just 19 years-old italian flag bearer. Well, she was not so young, but young enough to feel the tension of the Olympic debute. Eight years later she seems to have another equilibrium, another consciousness that is part of the grown process of every young woman. Her "Ave Maria" has been charming the jury, not just from the technical point of view, but also thanks to the

Tonight the ice will show the truth: from one side the experience of Kostner and Kim that wants to be confirmed jumping on the highest places of the podium. From the other the "baby" rising stars will fight between the lightness of being young and the fear of being great: a dangerous mix that can make these athletes fall to nerves or lift up to the olympic glory.