GANGNEUNG, South Korea — That Russian gold medal drought at the Pyeongchang Olympics is closer to ending, and it looks like the United States won’t get a medal this time around.

Teen figure skaters Alina Zagitova or Evgenia Medvedeva will almost certainly take gold in one of the Winter Games marquee events after they went 1-2 in the women’s short program Wednesday with the highest scores ever.

Medvedeva had not lost a competition in two years until she was beaten by Zagitova at the European Championships in Moscow. That set the stage for an Olympic showdown, and with the Russian team having no gold medal so far, the spotlight was even more glaring for them.

They responded with world records.

As for the United States, nine days after becoming the first U.S. woman and third overall to land a triple axel in the Olympics, Mirai Nagasu came down on two feet on her opening triple axel, then fell to the surface. While the rest of her program was clean, Nagasu’s chances for an individual medal are damaged. She earned 66.93 points, a season’s best, but not likely to put her in position for the podium as she ended the short program in ninth place.

“Sometimes it isn’t the right day, and today was one of those days,” Nagasu said. “This isn’t a sport where mistakes are forgiven. You only get one shot.”

Nagasu, 24 and the fourth-place finisher at the Vancouver Games, helped the United States win a bronze medal in the team event with her historic jump and a spotless free skate.

Karen Chen also had a slip in her program to finish with a scored of 65.90 and is in 10th place. Earlier, the United States’ Bradie Tennell fell and recorded a score of 64.01 and is in 11th.

Medvedeva had set the previous mark for a short program in the team event, when her team won silver. Zagitova handled the free skate.

Russia had never won Olympic gold for women until Adelina Sotnikova took home the medal in Sochi. Another is looming heading to Friday’s free skate to conclude Olympic figure skating. It should break the Russian gold medal drought unless one of their teammates beats them to the podium.

Medvedeva wasn’t at her best, yet her mark was a record 81.61. A group of Russian fans swayed together in the stands and chanted her name when that number was posted.

“I’m satisfied with my performance today. It was not my best, but it was OK,” she said. “All the battle is still ahead.”

Three skaters later came her training comrade, 15-year-old Zagitova, who put down a more difficult program, including a triple lutz-triple loop combination that outdid Medvedeva’s flip-toe loop combo.

So, another world record, 82.92.

And again the Russian fans rocked back and forth, this time chanting Zagitova’s name.

“Well done to her,” Medvedeva said. “She did everything she could.”

Not exactly, her friend and rival said.

“A few imperfections,” Zagitova explained.

Oh really?

“I’m happy I was able to cope with my nerves and skate well, set a world record,” she added, “but I’ve still got something to work towards and I can’t afford to relax.”

Canada’s Kaetlyn Osmond, the 2017 world silver medalist, stood third.