Yu-na to clash with Asada

By Yoon Chul

Rivals Korea and Japan will soon see their representative figure skaters Kim Yu-na and Mao Asada meet for the first time in about a year.

The ISU World Figure Skating Championships run from March 21 to 27 in Tokyo, but world No. 1 Kim is expected to land in Japan on March 20 to take part in the official training, scheduled for 10 p.m. that day.

It is her first official appearance at an international event since she finished second in the World Championships a year ago.

The media is excited to see whether defending champion Mao and Kim will practice at the same time.

The 18 qualifiers will be divided into three groups by the ISU and skaters from the same nation will practice together. While there are three Japanese skaters — Mao, Miki Ando and Kanako Murakami — Kim is the lone Korean.

During a year-long break from competition, the Vancouver Olympics gold medalist has performed only in three ice shows.

After a split from Canadian coach Brian Orser, the 20-year-old has prepared new routines for the World Championships with American Peter Oppegard.

Her short program to the theme from the classic ballet “Giselle” is highly anticipated but fans, especially Koreans, long to see Kim’s new free skating program.

The reason is her music is called “Homage to Korea,” a compilation of traditional Korean folk music including the well-known “Arirang.”

Kim has already mentioned that she wanted to show her gratitude to her home country describing “Homage to Korea” as a love letter for domestic fans.

She has been working hard with her new American coach in the hope of a perfect return to competition.

Another factor making Yu-na’s return more interesting is the fact that the ISU has changed the way it scores skaters this season, which may work against her.

Previously skaters only collected a basic score for jumps if they were landed.

For example, if athletes tried a triple lutz or triple axel, they could only collect a basic score if they made three rotations and landed safely before this season. If not the jump was downgraded.

But from this season the judge can give 70 percent of the basic score calling it “under-rotated,” instead of downgrading it.

“It is a little ambiguous to judge between under-rotated and downgraded moves,” Korea Skating Association (KSA) director Sakong Kyung-won told The Korea Times.

Kim often extended the gap between others the Korean has great ability in the jumps. The new criteria could narrow the gap between Kim and the other contestants.

The other change is she cannot include as many double axels as she has before.

So far in free skating program Yu-na had three double-axel jumps — a single and combination.

To make matters worse, the basic score for a double axel, her favorite jump, is .2 point lower than last season.

Kim is most confident with this jump as well as it being her highest-level one. From this season one kind of jump cannot be performed more than twice.

Meanwhile, despite the massive quake that affected Tokyo, Yoyogi Park has been declared safe so far. The ISU will decide later whether the competition schedule will be changed or not.

yc@koreatimes.co.kr