Yu-na's quest for Gold
2010 Olympic champion eyes second world title
By Jung Min-ho
Reigning Olympic figure skating champion Kim Yu-na left for Canada Sunday for the 2013 World Figure Skating Championships. This will be her first major competition in two years.
The 22-year-old will test her performance in the country where she won her Olympic gold medal in 2010, competing in the short program and free skating in London, Ontario, on March 15 (KST) and 17 respectively.
"I don't want to put too much pressure on myself. I want to be relaxed when I take the ice,” she told reporters at Incheon International Airport before departing for Canada. "I began my season late and I've gotten better than at the start of the season. I haven't tried to make any drastic changes, but I've been trying to polish small moves."
Kim said she felt comfortable about competing in Canada, where she trained for five years with Canadian skating legend Brian Orser to win the 2010 Olympic gold medal.
"I spent such a long time there that it feels like my second home," Kim said. "I think I will feel quite comfortable at the worlds’.”
This will be Kim’s sixth time competing at the world championships at senior level. She won in 2009, finished second in 2010 and 2011 and third in 2007 and 2008.
A chance for a glorious comeback to the world stage seems likely after Kim won the national title in January with an overwhelming scoring lead on the other participants, but stiff challenges are still ahead.
Having landed the triple axel at the beginning of the season, Asada Mao of Japan has grown to be the biggest threat to Kim. Asada nailed the sport’s most difficult jump at the Four Continents Figure Skating Championships in Japan last month, scoring 205.45 points in total, a world best this season.
Should the 22-year-old Japanese be able to deliver the jump at the upcoming championships, the contest will be very tough for the well-rounded Kim even with the assumption that she will excel in every element of her programs there, including her less-rated signature triple lutz-triple toe combination.
As Asada is expected to attempt her triple axel in London, the pressure is mounting on Kim to be perfect to beat her arch-rival.
"I've never put much thought into competing against one particular skater," Kim said.
"It's unfortunate that all the talk about Asada has created extra pressure, but it's not something I can avoid. So I am just going to try to relax. As we have always done, Asada and I will do our best."
Nevertheless, given the high risk of achieving a triple axel Asada’s successful delivery was the first in two years Kim is still considered the favorite to win the event.
Canadian champion Kaetlyn Osmond, American champion Ashley Wagner and 2012 event winner Carolina Kostner of Italy are other potential contenders.
Osmond came into the limelight when she won the national event with 201.34 points in total, the second highest this season after Asada, at the age of 17.
Gracie Gold is another rising star from the United States after she won a silver medal at her first senior national competition in January, which Wagner won.
For all the skaters, the World Championships will be a litmus test to see how fit they, both physically and mentally, only one year out from the Olympics.
Kim will skate to the music from the 1963 movie, “The Kiss of the Vampire,” in the short programs, and perform her free skate to a compilation of songs from the musical “Les Miserables.”
To prepare for the championships, Kim rehired two of her childhood coaches, Shin Hye-sook and Ryu Jong-hyun, while retaining her long-time choreographer, Canada’s David Wilson.