Costly error for Aussie skater Craine 

Kailani Craine’s Olympic figure skating campaign in Beijing has got off to a rocky start with an early mistake in her short program likely to cost the Australian a spot in the top 24 and the free skate.

Looking to improve on her 17th placing in PyeongChang, Craine failed to nail an early jump sequence, pulling out of her opening triple lutz which was a required element.

The 23-year-old instead only completed a double lutz and while she mastered her triple loop-triple loop combination and her double axel, she only managed a score of 49.93.

That was well down on Craine’s season’s best tally of 61.62, which would have put her near the leaders early in the competition.

‘It definitely was not the skate that I wanted,’ the Newcastle law student said.

‘It would have hurt less if I made the mistake on the hardest jump in the programme, which is the second jump.

‘It hurts a lot because the first jump has been going so well in practise so it hurts when one of the best elements in your programme lets you down.

‘It wasn’t my night tonight, but unfortunately not every night can be your night.’

The top 24 skaters in the short program move through to Thursday’s free skate, when the Olympic medals will be decided.

Russian teenager Kamila Valieva will be on the ice 26th in the 30-skater field.

The Court of Arbitration for Sport cleared the 15-year-old pre-event favourite to compete despite her returning a positive test for a banned substance in December.