BEIJING Feb 6 , (AP) — Olympic favorite Kamila Valieva nearly eclipsed her own world record in the short program of the team figure skating event at the Beijing . That sends her Russian team into the lead heading into the men’s free skate later Sunday.

The 15-year-old Valieva’s score of 90.18 points to “In Memoriam” by the Russian pianist and composer Kirill Richter at the Beijing Games was just off the record of 90.45 points set just weeks ago at the European championships.

The Russians moved into first place with 36 points, two ahead of Day 1 leader Team USA and seven ahead of Japan.

Karen Chen took the ice for the Americans but made a couple of mistakes, including a fall on her triple loop near the end of the program. That left her in fifth place in the short program and cost her team valuable points.

Wakaba Higuchi was second, pushing her Japanese team into podium contention. Reigning gold medalist Canada survived the cutoff thanks to a strong performance from Madeline Schizas, while China claimed the last spot in the free skates by winning a tiebreaker with Georgia.

The start of the men’s downhill skiing competition at the Beijing Games has been postponed because of high winds.

The race was scheduled to start at 11 a.m. Beijing time, but organizers will make a decision at that time if it can start an hour later.

It’s the first race of the Alpine competition at the Winter Olympics.

Saturday’s third and final training session had to be canceled because of high winds.

The world’s best skiers only saw The Rock course up close for the first time on Thursday.