Olympics recap: Adelina Sotnikova bests Yuna Kim, Maddie Bowman rocks the …

A flawless performance by Adelina Sotnikova has won Russia a largely unexpected gold in the women's individual figure skating event.

Sochi, Russia. [Updated 5:22 a.m. EDT] After Thursday's free skate at the Sochi Olympics, there seems to be no small debate over whether Russian Adelina Sotnikova deserved to win gold over South Korean Kim Yu-na. Skip to next paragraph 

That's just figure skating: It's rarely obvious, and it's almost always maddeningly controversial, and so the gorgeous skate-off between Adelina Sotnikova of Russia and Kim Yu-na of South Korea for the Olympic gold medal will be endlessly argued. This

Russia's Adeline Sotnikova wraps herself in her country's flag alongside Korea's Yuna Kim and Italy's Carolina Kostner, after winning the gold medal during the ladie's free skate at the 2014 Sochi Winter Olympics held at Iceberg Skating Palace on

Let's not mince words. Russia's Adelina Sotnikova owned the night. Seemingly out of nowhere, the Russian figure skater became a podium contender (not to mention EW's Olympic Stud of the Day) on Wednesday.