PyeongChang (South Korea), Feb 11 (IANS): Russian woman figure skater Evgenia Medvedeva set a world record by earning 81.06 points and in the process bagged the first medal for her side in the team short dance event at the 2018 Winter Olympic Games.

She bested her previous record set at the 2017 team championship in Tokyo (80.85 points).

Medvedeva also holds the world records in the free programme (160.46) and the sum of two programmes (241.31), reports Tass news agency.

Carolina Kostner from Italy is second (75.1 points) and Kaetlyn Osmond from Canada is third with 71.38 points.

The result showed by Medvedeva made it possible for the Russia team to hold the second place after the short dance and continue in the race for medals. The team event will end on February 12.

According to the decision of the International Olympic Committee, Russian athletes compete at the 2018 Winter Olympics as 'Olympic Athletes from Russia' under the Olympic flag.