Many of the female figure skaters who competed at the Worlds championships in Tokyo this year were under the age of twenty. The reigning World champ, American Kimmie Meissner, is just sixteen, as is Korea’s Yu-Na Kim and Japan’s Mao Asada. Both Kim and Asada were too young to compete at last year’s Olympics and Worlds. Much has been made this year of Asada’s ineligibility, but most of the press has seemed to forgotten that Meissner also experienced the same thing the year before, when she was too young to be eligible for Worlds in 2005.
The difference, however, is that Meissner is participating in a sport that many are saying is in a decline in her home country, while figure skating in Japan has never been more popular. Even Meissner recognized that although there was a great deal of pressure on her as the defending champion, the real pressure was on the Japanese skaters, with their massive and highly critical press and enthusiastic fans.
The pressure was so great on Mao Asada after her ineligibility last year that she moved to Lake Arrowhead, Calif. to train. There has been a great deal of discussion about the fairness of the international rules regarding skaters’ age limit, but Asada’s short program at the 2007 World championships seemed to give support to the wisdom of the limitations on young skaters. Asada started off well with a triple Lutz, but then crumbled under the pressure and popped the second jump of her planned triple flip-triple loop combo into a single jump. She lost eight points on that one move alone.
“I didn’t feel that nervous. I knew I had to do my best,” Asada said. “When I finished I thought, ‘I failed.’”
The big story thus far at this competition was Yu-Na Kim, who has become Asada’s biggest rival. The Korean, who bowed out of her own Nationals due to a herniated disc in her back, had just come out of a month of intense training (with her coach, Canadian great Brian Orser) and acupuncture treatment. Kim arrived in Tokyo still in pain, but had improved by the time she skated her short program. “Today during the performance I felt no pain, so I was feeling better and was able to skate in a very confident manner,” she said.
Kim put out a dazzling performance of her short program. She made a triple flip-triple toeloop combo, a triple Lutz, and a level-four combination and layback spins. She had just one shaky moment, in her spiral sequence, but earned another level four anyway. When her marks came up, Kim reported that she could hardly believe them.
“I was surprised with such a high score. I made a small mistake on the spiral sequence, but I’m happy that I had a good score," she said. The end result was amazing: not only did she post a personal best (71.95 points), she set a new record in the short program, beating Sasha Cohen’s score (71.12) back in 2003.
Miki Ando, the only female skater to execute a quad salchow, has been touted as another of Asada’s rivals in the Japanese press. Her quad made history, but it has also proven to be her undoing; she tried one at the Turin Olympics, but fell and missed most of her remaining jumps. She finished in a disappointing 15th. Although Ando hasn’t successfully made a quad for three years, she was able to make a quad during a practice session earlier in the week, however, putting her one the front page of Japan’s many sport papers.
She was coy about whether she would bring it out for the free skate. “I don’t want to make the same mistake as last year,” she told reporters.
Ando’s performance was exceptional enough to put her in second place after the short program. She nailed a triple Lutz-triple loop, a triple flip, a double Axel. She earned a level four for her spiral sequence and flying sit spin, but only a level two for her layback spin. Her 67.98 points slightly improved her previous personal best.
The other two notable teenagers in the short program, Americans Kimmie Meissner and Emily Hughes, seemed to falter. Hughes came in sixth, but was happy with her skate, which included a triple flip-double toeloop comb, a triple Lutz, and strong spins.
“The excitement in the arena helped a lot,” said Hughes, who skated after Kim and Ando.
Meissner came in fourth place after her short program. She landed a triple Lutz-triple toeloop combo, a triple flip, and a double Axel, but earned only a level one for her layback spin. “The short program is always nerve-racking for me,” Meissner said. “The long program is definitely my favorite, so I am looking forward to it.”
Sources:
Associated Press. S. Korean Soars to Big Lead At Worlds. http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2007/03/23/AR2007032301566.html
Brennan, C. Once-Popular Figure Skating Losing Heat. http://www.usatoday.com/sports/columnist/brennan/2007-01-24-brennan-figure-skating-popularity_x.htm
Figure skating: Asian debutantes raring to steal show at worlds.http://www.channelnewsasia.com/stories/afp_sports/view/264724/1/.html
ISU World Figure Skating Championships 2007 Tokyo (JPN) Day 4.
http://www.isu.org/vsite/vcontent/content/news/0,10869,4844-131973-133281-18886-268075-news-item,00.html
Thomson, C. Meissner skater to beat in Tokyo: Bel Air teen set to defend title at World Figure Skating Championships
http://www.baltimoresun.com/sports/olympics/bal-meissner0319,0,2842347.story?coll=bal-sports-olympics
Zanca, S. (Associated Press). South Korea's Kim leads World Figure Skating http://the.honoluluadvertiser.com/article/2007/Mar/23/br/br4739568021.html
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