GOYANG, South Korea : South Korean starlet Kim Yu-Na took first place in the ladies short programme at the ISU Grand Prix Friday, held in Goyang on the outskirts of Seoul.
In front of a huge home crowd, Kim scored 65.94 points to take top ranking despite making one mistake in her routine.
After nailing her opening jump combination of triple flip and triple toeloop, she botched the takeoff on her triple lutz, managing only a single rotation in the air.
A solid skate in the remainder of her routine enabled Kim to narrowly edge her Japanese rival Mao Asada, who is second at 65.38 points.
The 18-year-old, who was last out of six skaters to take to the ice, admitted to suffering nerves while waiting her turn.
“I knew the fans would be behind me, but I was actually surprised at how loud and raucous they were,” Kim said of the cheering partisan crowd that threw flowers and dolls onto the ice after Kim’s programme.
“I was so wound up beforehand and when it was all finished, tears just started flowing,” she said.
Asada skated a cleaner programme and beat Kim in the technical element score by 0.20 points. But the reigning world champion scored lower than her Korean rival in programme component score.
“I am happy that I landed all jumps cleanly,” Asada said. “I think this is my best short programme so far.”
Asada’s compatriot Yukari Nakano ranked third at 62.08.
The defending pairs champions, Aliona Savchenko and Robin Szolkowy of Germany, lead after a planned programme which saw them score 70.14 points to edge out Zhang Dan and Zhang Hao of China on 68.34 points.
Another Chinese duo, Pang Qing and Tong Jian, finished third with 66.24.
Japan’s Takahiko Kozuka took the lead in the men’s competition with a powerful, clean performance in the short programme.
Kozuka, competing in his first Grand Prix Final, scored 83.90 points to take the lead over American Jeremy Abbott, in second place with 78.26 points, and former world champion Brian Joubert of France, in third at 74.55.
“I am very happy I could land all the jumps, all spins, all the steps,” the Japanese skater said.
In the ice dancing competition, world champions Isabelle Delobel and Olivier Schoenfelder of France scored 60.35 points in the original dance to take a slim lead into Saturday’s free dance.
The Russian duo of Oksana Domnina and Maxim Shabalin were in second place on 59.33 points. Italians Federica Faiella and Massimo Scali finished in third with 57.89 points. Another Russian team, Jana Khokhlova and Sergei Novitski, withdrew from the competition due to illness.
source: channelnewsasia.com
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