Kim Yu-na victorious in season debut in Germany
DORTMUND, Germany (Yonhap) -- Korean figure skater Kim Yu-na overwhelmed her competitors en route to a resounding victory in her season debut in Germany on Sunday after sitting out the past one and a half years.
Kim scored 129.34 points to top the day's free skating event at the NRW Trophy, and grabbed the title with a total of 201.61 points. On Saturday, she earned 72.27 points in the short program, creating a 12.72-point lead over Ksenia Makarova of Russia.
Kim's total was the highest score by a female figure skater this season. Before Kim's performance Sunday, Mao Asada of Japan owned the best score this season with her winning total of 196.80 at the International Skating Union (ISU) Grand Prix Final in Sochi, Russia, on Saturday.
The second place went to Makarova, who won 159.01 points in total that included 99.46 points in free skating and 59.55 in the short program.
Kim, the 2010 Olympic gold medalist, also earned the required technical scores to qualify for the 2013 World Figure Skating Championships to be held in the Canadian city of London in Ontario from March 10-17.
This was Kim's first competitive skating since the 2011 world championships in April of last year. After sitting out the entire 2011-12 season to mull over career options, Kim, 22, announced in July that she would return to competitive skating with an eye on the 2014 Winter Olympics in Sochi, Russia.
Kim performed her free skating program to a compilation of songs from the popular musical "Les Miserables," and started the routine with a clean triple lutz-triple toe loop combination and then a triple flip. She followed up with flawless spins and step sequences.
Midway through the program, Kim under-rotated her double axel and later fell on the second jump of a triple-double combination. These miscues, though, didn't prevent Kim from surpassing 200 points total for the fourth time in her career.
The NRW Trophy is a minor competition for skaters needing to score points to qualify for the world championships. And since she has missed major events, such as the past two International Skating Union (ISU) Grand Prix competitions as well as the 2012 world championships, Kim had to earn enough technical points to qualify for the 2013 World Championships in Canada.
Under the ISU rules, Kim needed at least 28 points in her technical element score (TES) in the short program and 48 points in the free skating.
She easily eclipsed those marks, earning a 37.42 TES in the short program and 60.82 in free skating.
Under the ISU judging system introduced in 2004, TES evaluates technique while the program component score (PCS) assesses artistry and overall performance.
In her short program, Kim set a new career-high with 34.85 in PCS and in free skating, she earned 69.52 in PCS.
Except for corporate ice shows, Kim had been out of action for nearly two years, but she erased any lingering doubt about her form with an excellent short program Saturday. Her score of 72.27 points was the fifth-highest of her career, almost seven full points better than her short program score at the 2011 world championships.
Kim holds three world records with 78.50 points in the short program, 150.06 points in free skating and 228.56 points in total score. All three marks were set at the 2010 Vancouver Winter Olympics.
Kim, also the 2009 world champion, has never finished off the podium in her senior career, which began in 2006.