RSS
Home
Kim strikes gold at Four Continents
Print
Email
RSS
Subscribe
Vancouver, British Columbia -- Kim Yu-Na elevated her status as Korea’s rock star of skating and an Olympic gold-medal favorite by winning the Four Continents Figure Skating Championship Friday night.
Kim, 18, wasn’t perfect, but she was reasonably close, finishing with a score of 189.07 to top surprise silver medalist Joannie Rochette of Canada, who posted a score of 183.91 and chief rival Mao Asada, who moved from sixth to third with the night’s best free skate.
The picture brightened for the Americans with Caroline Zhang’s fourth-place finish, the best of a trio of U.S. skaters. Zhang’s 171.22 topped teammates Rachael Flatt, who was seventh, and U.S. national champion Alissa Czisny, ninth. Czisny was downgraded on an early triple flip and bailed on two jumps of a three-jump combination.
Zhang may have been the best American in Pacific Coliseum, site of next year’s 2010 Olympics, but Flatt and Czisny will be representing the U.S. at next month’s world championships in Los Angeles because they finished higher at nationals.
Zhang, 15, didn’t seem to mind.
“I‘ll use this for motivation,” said Zhang.
Asada, the defending world champion, scored high (176,52 total) despite flubbing her opening combination -- a trademark triple axel and double toe loop became just a single axel. She landed her second triple axel.
“I just wanted to do it once, but I made a mistake on the first time, so I thought I would do it better on the second time.”
Asada also doubled a triple toe loop. But the rest of her program, which included a triple flip-double toe loop-double toe loop, showed she can rally.
“There was no pressure,” Asada said. “That was me in my best condition.”
Kim and Asada, both 18, and perhaps Italy’s Carolina Kostner are expected to duel for the world title and Olympic gold. At Four Continents, Kim, third in the long program, seemed close to top form, despite wiping out on a triple loop early in the program and getting downgraded in a three-jump combination.
“I wanted to do a triple loop, but I missed it unfortunately,” she said. “But the rest of the program was great.”
It was vintage Kim. She’s got hops an NBA player would envy, along with grace, speed and great spins.
“I was a little tired today, so for me to have first place in Vancouver is good,” she said.
Vancouver, a diverse city known for its Asian population, cheered loudly for both Kim and Asada, but Kim seemed to get the biggest ovation.
“For the next Olympics, I hope a lot of Koreans cheer for me and help me,” Kim said.
Related Articles:
Add a Comment
