Sotnikova stuns crowd (and herself) with short program

Queen Yuna Kim is narrowly holding onto her reign as Olympic champion after the ladies short program Wednesday, and is in a three-way fight for the 2014 gold medal with some surprise contenders.

(U.S. skater Jason Brown was the biggest Twitter advocate of the event, and had nothing but positive things to say about the field. He remains the best, most excited, most ponytailed athlete of the Sochi Winter Games.)

Russian favorite Julia Lipnitskaya sits fifth, but her teammate Adelina Sotnikova had the skate of her life and garnered a personal best 74.64 behind Kim's 74.92. Italy's Carolina Kostner repeated her short-program magic from the team event, and is barely outside of top spot after setting her personal best of 74.12.

The final flight in Thursday's free skate will shockingly not include two-time World Champion Mao Asada, who fell on a triple axel. The jump is rare in women's competition and without the element, Asada landed a score of just 55.51 for her program. The disappointing result is likely a podium death sentence for the defending silver medalist.

Americans Gracie Gold and Ashley Wagner will both be in the final flight of six women on Thursday, and Polina Edmunds won't be far behind -- she's sitting seventh after the short.

More Brown dominance: