Tweet
MOSCOW (Reuters) - Olympic champion Kim Yuna took a narrow lead into the women's free skate despite stumbling in the short programme at the world figure skating championships on Friday.
Kim, 20, missed her combination jump midway through her routine but made no mistake on the second attempt to earn 65.91 points, some 13 shy of her personal best achieved during her gold-medal performance at last year's Olympics.
"I'm a little disappointed that I didn't do a clean programme today," said the South Korean, who had not competed this season after briefly considering retirement following her second-place finish at last year's worlds.
"I tried to focus on my flip and then I missed the combination," added the 2009 world champion, who fired her Canadian coach Brian Orser last August.
"But I was able to switch my combination to the flip and added a double toe-loop to it. The rest of the programme wasn't so bad. I'm in first place right now, so I'm pleased with that."
Kim leads Japan's Miki Ando by less than half a point going into Saturday's free programme at Moscow's Khodynka arena.
Russia's Ksenia Makarova was third on 61.62 points, just ahead of U.S. champion Alissa Czisny, while defending champion Mao Asada of Japan lies seventh following a poor performance.
ASADA DISAPPOINTED
Asada, who upstaged Kim to win last year's worlds, made a two-footed landing on her triple axel and had a few other minor wobbles as she dropped more than seven points off the lead.
"I'm very disappointed about my mistake on the triple axel," said Asada, born in the same year and month as her great rival Kim.
"I'm sad because I couldn't show what I'm capable of. Now I'll switch my mind on tomorrow and will try to put everything together and skate a really strong performance."
In ice dancing, world and Olympic champions Tessa Virtue and Scott Moir made light of their prolonged absence from the sport to earn record marks for their short programme.
The Canadians, who have missed most of the season after Virtue underwent surgery on a leg injury last October, received 74.29 points for their romantic tango, beating their previous best score by almost five points.
American duo Meryl Davis and Charlie White, who finished second behind the Canadians in the world championships and Olympics last year, were close second again, trailing their rivals by half a point.
European champions Nathalie Pechalat and Fabian Bourzat of France were third.
(Editing by Brian Homewood; To query or comment on this story email sportsfeedback@thomsonreuters.com)
Powered By WizardRSS.com | Full Text RSS Feed | Amazon Plugin | Hud Settlement Statement
Kim, 20, missed her combination jump midway through her routine but made no mistake on the second attempt to earn 65.91 points, some 13 shy of her personal best achieved during her gold-medal performance at last year's Olympics.
"I'm a little disappointed that I didn't do a clean programme today," said the South Korean, who had not competed this season after briefly considering retirement following her second-place finish at last year's worlds.
"I tried to focus on my flip and then I missed the combination," added the 2009 world champion, who fired her Canadian coach Brian Orser last August.
"But I was able to switch my combination to the flip and added a double toe-loop to it. The rest of the programme wasn't so bad. I'm in first place right now, so I'm pleased with that."
Kim leads Japan's Miki Ando by less than half a point going into Saturday's free programme at Moscow's Khodynka arena.
Russia's Ksenia Makarova was third on 61.62 points, just ahead of U.S. champion Alissa Czisny, while defending champion Mao Asada of Japan lies seventh following a poor performance.
ASADA DISAPPOINTED
Asada, who upstaged Kim to win last year's worlds, made a two-footed landing on her triple axel and had a few other minor wobbles as she dropped more than seven points off the lead.
"I'm very disappointed about my mistake on the triple axel," said Asada, born in the same year and month as her great rival Kim.
"I'm sad because I couldn't show what I'm capable of. Now I'll switch my mind on tomorrow and will try to put everything together and skate a really strong performance."
In ice dancing, world and Olympic champions Tessa Virtue and Scott Moir made light of their prolonged absence from the sport to earn record marks for their short programme.
The Canadians, who have missed most of the season after Virtue underwent surgery on a leg injury last October, received 74.29 points for their romantic tango, beating their previous best score by almost five points.
American duo Meryl Davis and Charlie White, who finished second behind the Canadians in the world championships and Olympics last year, were close second again, trailing their rivals by half a point.
European champions Nathalie Pechalat and Fabian Bourzat of France were third.
(Editing by Brian Homewood; To query or comment on this story email sportsfeedback@thomsonreuters.com)
Powered By WizardRSS.com | Full Text RSS Feed | Amazon Plugin | Hud Settlement Statement
