No one can match Yu-Na Kim in the short at Skate America

Yu-Na Kim (KOR) skates another flawless
short program at Skate America to vault
into the lead.
Photo: AP/Mike Groll

Maybe she should try competing with the men, because every time Yu-Na Kim steps on the ice, it is as if every other skater is skating for the silver medal. After a dominating win at Trophee Eric Bompard four weeks ago, Kim opened up a lead of over 17 points over the rest of the competition with yet another spectacular short program performance.  Her score would have been good enough for second place in the men's short program.

Kim was lively, fiery, and precise in her James Bond medley short program, landing the most difficult jump combination done by any of the ladies, a triple lutz-triple toe. She was visibly proud of her performance when she finished, soaking up the contagious energy of the crowd. Her short program score of 76.28 is now her third world record score of the season, after setting the record for the free skate and the total score at Trophee Eric Bompard.

U.S. silver medalist Rachael Flatt attempted the second most difficult combination, the triple flip-triple toe, but fell on the backend of the combination. But because she received full rotation credit for the combination and the rest of the program was clean, her score of 58.80 was still high enough to put her in the silver medal position going into the free skate. Flatt was more comfortable with her short today than she looked at Cup of China, a good sign for her momentum building toward U.S. Nationals.

Much like she did at Rostelecom Cup, 2004 European champion Julia Sebestyen skated a clean and solid short program, complete with her trademark triple lutz. She is in third place with her performance, only 0.26 behind Flatt. The question with her is always whether or not she can carry that momentum all the way through her free skate.

Not far behind in fourth is 2006 World silver medalist Fumie Suguri, who is trying to salvage what has been a subpar season so far. She is looking stronger at Skate America than she did at her first two events of the season, and she will be hoping to prove in the free skate that she is still a contender for one of the three spots on the Japanese Olympic team.

The other two American ladies in the competition, 2008 U.S. junior champion Alexe Gilles and 2007 U.S. silver medalist Emily Hughes both had mistakes on multiple jumping passes, putting them in 10^th and 11^th, respectively, going into the free skate. Hughes was a last-minute replacement for the injured Sasha Cohen.

LADIES (after the short program)
1. Yu-Na Kim KOR – 76.28
2. Rachael Flatt USA – 58.80
3. Julia Sebestyen HUN – 58.54
4. Fumie Suguri JPN – 56.04
5. Elena Glebova EST – 52.28
6. Elene Gedevanishvili GEO – 52.18
7. Joshi Helgesson SWE – 51.32
8. Tugba Karademir TUR – 49.42
9. Susanna Poykio FIN – 46.72
10. Alexe Gilles USA – 46.56
11. Emily Hughes USA – 45.32
12. Sarah Hecken GER – 43.86