Japan Number 1 in men and women's ice skating with Hanyu and Mao Asada both taking gold!

Mao No 1 after long program (Julia No2, Carolina No 3) 

Feb 22, 2014; Sochi, RUSSIA; Mao Asada of Japan performs in the figure skating gala exhibition during the Sochi 2014 Olympic Winter Games at Iceberg Skating Palace. Mandatory Credit: James Lang-USA TODAY Sports

Two-time world champion Mao Asada had a disappointing run in the 2014 Winter Olympics in Sochi, Russia, so she was hoping to bounce back in a big way during the World Figure Skating Championships being held at the Saitama Super Arena in her home country of Japan.

Asada did just that by bouncing back with an incredible short program that landed her in first place with a new world record score of 78.66, which topped the 78.50 set by Yuna Kim in the Vancouver Games.

Second-place after the short program went to Olympic bronze medalist Carolina Kostner with a 77.24, which was a new personal record by three points.

Kostner was the only Sochi medalist to compete in the ladies individual event after silver medalist Yuna Kim retired and gold medalist Adelina Sotnikova decided to pull out of the event last week to rest.

With Sotnikova out, all eyes from Russia were on 16-year-old sensation Yulia Lipnitskaya who came out in third-place.

Gracie Gold was the top finishing American in fifth-place. Ashley Wagner finished in seventh, while Polina Edmunds landed in 12th.

Here are the top seven finishers after the ladies short program on Thursday morning:

1. Mao ASADA JPN 78.66
2. Carolina KOSTNER ITA 77.24
3. Yulia LIPNITSKAYA RUS 74.54
4. Akiko SUZUKI JPN 71.02
5. Gracie GOLD USA 70.31
6. Anna POGORILAYA RUS 66.26
7. Ashley WAGNER USA

Storybook finish: Yuzuru Hanyu, competing in the free program on Friday night, lands eight triple jumps en route to a gold medal at the World Figure Skating Championships at Saitama Super Arena. | REUTERS

FIGURE SKATING

Hanyu delivers splendid free skate, overtakes Machida for world title

Sendai native becomes first man to earn Olympic and world titles in same year since 2002

BY JACK GALLAGHER

STAFF WRITER

• MAR 28, 2014
  ARTICLE HISTORY
• PRINT
• SHARE

SAITAMA – Sochi Olympic champion Yuzuru Hanyu came from behind in dramatic fashion to capture his first world championship on Friday night at Saitama Super Arena.

The 19-year-old Hanyu trailed compatriot Tatsuki Machida by nearly seven points following Wednesday’s short program, but summoned the energy and endurance to overturn the deficit and cap off an incredible season with a stunning free skate.

Hanyu skated to “Romeo and Juliet” and opened with a quadruple salchow, followed by a quad toe loop, then landed eight triple jumps to run up a huge score. It was the free skate he had hoped for last month in Sochi.

The victory made Hanyu the first man to win both the Olympic and world titles in the same year since Russia’s Alexei Yagudin in 2002.

Hanyu also claimed both the Grand Prix Final and Japan national crowns this season.

The Sendai native’s spins and step sequences were both excellent and helped make the difference, as he edged Machida for the gold by just .33 of a point. Hanyu’s total score was 282.59 points, while Machida tallied 282.26.

Hanyu bested Machida in both executed elements and program components in posting the victory.

Spain’s Javier Fernandez took the bronze with 275.93.

Skating in front of another impressive crowd of more than 18,000, Hanyu clinically moved through his routine knowing he could ill afford to make a single mistake. So exhausted was he at the end that he actually went to his knees and put his chest on the ice for several seconds.

“I’m so happy,” said Hanyu. “Even though I didn’t watch Tatsuki (who went two skaters before him), in my head, I had been thinking that he did a perfect program. That was very close.”

Machida competed to “Firebird” and was valiant in earning his first medal ever at a major international competition, while hitting two quads and seven triple jumps. The silver medal capped off a fine season for the 24-year-old, who won two Grand Prix events and finished second behind Hanyu at the Japan nationals.

Machida was fifth in Sochi after struggling in the short program, but gained redemption here in front of the home crowd. The Kanagawa Prefecture native has been under the radar for most of his career, competing in the shadow of skaters like Daisuke Takahashi and now Hanyu.

“I showed everything I have at this moment,” stated Machida. “I tried to perform without caring about the score or ranking, but it bothered me a lot and I had a really hard 4½ minutes. I have no regrets about my performance today.”

Hanyu, who was the bronze medalist at the 2012 worlds and finished fourth last year, had a lone deduction for taking off on the wrong edge on his triple flip, but received extra credit for highlight distribution on five jumps in the middle of his program.

Despite the triumph, Hanyu remains both ambitious and aware of the expectations he now faces each time he competes.

“I hope that I can become a skater who can always end with strong performances,” he said. “I felt the responsibility I have to win this event.”

Fernandez was less than two points behind Machida in second place entering the free skate, but was unable to capitalize on the opportunity. He did land three quads, but also botched a triple lutz/double toe loop combo that cost him dearly.

“I popped the triple lutz and didn’t do my quad salchow/triple toe loop combination, but still it was a good program,” commented Fernandez, who was third at the worlds for the second year in a row.

Russia’s Maxim Kovtun took fourth on 247.37.

Takahiko Kozuka performed to “Introduction et Rondo Capriccioso” and placed sixth with 238.02.

Italy’s Anna Cappellini and Luca Lanotte hold a narrow lead after the short dance over Canada’s Kaitlyn Weaver and Andrew Poje.

The Italian duo notched a score of 69.70, while the Canadians recorded 69.20. France’s Nathalie Pechalat and Fabian Bourzat are in third with 68.20.

Cathy and Chris Reed (55.18) are 14th going into Saturday’s free dance.

Mao Asada leads heading into the women’s free skate on Saturday after setting a new world record in the short program on Thursday.

Italy’s Carolina Kostner is in second place, with Russia’s Julia Lipnitskaia in third.

Mao Asada - Ice Queen - Can she win the Winter Olympics? NY Times pics and article

Asada, After a Struggle, Is Soaring Over the Ice Again

Chris Mcgrath/Getty Images

Mao Asada on her way to winning an Olympic tuneup this month in Fukuoka, Japan.

By JERÉ LONGMAN

Published: December 27, 2013

• FACEBOOK
• TWITTER
• GOOGLE+
• SAVE
• EMAIL
• SHARE
• PRINT
• SINGLE PAGE
• REPRINTS
• 

DETROIT — Figure skating’s kiss-and-cry area is designed for sequined emotion. But when Mao Asada of Japan received her composite score at the 2010 Vancouver Olympics, her expression remained as flat and neutral as the ice.

Enlarge This Image

Mark Baker/Associated Press

Mao Asada, left, was subdued after winning a silver medal and losing out to Kim Yu-na, center, at the 2010 Games in Vancouver.

Later, she appeared near tears before receiving her silver medal. It was a moment of joy and disappointment. While Asada was both delicate and powerful, one of a handful of women ever to land a triple axel, her jumping technique had eroded. And she had finished far behind the elegantchampion Kim Yu-na of South Korea.

“The silver medal was nice, but my jumps were falling apart,” Asada, 23, a two-time world champion, said in October at Skate America, speaking through an interpreter. “There was a time when I just couldn’t forgive myself.”

In 2006, Asada was perhaps the best female skater in the world but, at 15, was too young by international rules for the Turin Games. Four years later, at 19, she found herself struggling with the lutz, salchow and toe loop, curious given that she had mastered the most difficult jump for women, the triple axel.

What followed was a ruthless self-examination. After Vancouver, Asada started from scratch, taking a mechanic’s approach to a frilly sport. She stripped her triple jumps to their rudimentary parts and relearned each takeoff and landing, beginning with a single rotation.

For about two years, Asada struggled to regain her consistency. She considered retiring after her mother died of chronic liver disease in December 2011. But another Olympics approach, in February in Sochi, Russia, and Asada has restored herself among the gold medal favorites.

In early December, she won the Grand Prix Final, an important Olympic tuneup in Fukuoka, Japan. The stoicism in her skating has bloomed with newfound feeling, interpretation and creative movement, born of grief and maturity.

“To experience the passing of her mom made her deeper emotionally, made her question a lot of things,” said Lori Nichol of Toronto, Asada’s longtime choreographer. “When she did that, she became more open to living life and appreciating life. That included exploring movement on the ice, hearing music more. Before, she was a very disciplined skater who did what she was told, but she didn’t invest a lot of herself emotionally.”

This will be her final competitive season, Asada has said. She is one of Japan’s most popular athletes. A gold medal would bring a glorious and redemptive conclusion to a celebrated career. But her chances could go skidding with the slightest of mistakes.

Kim, the reigning Olympic champion, has seldom skated in recent years, but she won the 2013 world title while Asada finished third. After her current Olympic season was disrupted by a foot injury, Kim has returned to competition. The technical skill of her helicoptering jumps and her speed and airy presence are unmatched. If Kim is at her best in Sochi, she is widely expected to become the third female skater to win consecutive gold medals after Sonja Henie of Norway (1928, 1932, 1936) and Katarina Witt of the former East Germany (1984, 1988).

“Yu-na has become a megastar,” said Tara Lipinski, the 1998 Olympic champion. “She has that Olympic title and that puts them in a slightly different category than they were in before. Now, Mao is a bit of an underdog, pushing to grab that medal. Yu-na has only gotten more confident.”

Surprisingly, Asada finished only third at the recent Japanese national championships. And she has lost reliability in her signature jump, the triple axel, a move as singularly recognizable as it is arduous. It is the only jump launched from a forward position, and it requires three and a half rotations in the air. Asada landed two triple axels in her long program at the Vancouver Games, but lately has fallen on the jump, put her hands to the ice or prematurely ended the maneuver short of the number of intended rotations.

Some commentators have advised her to discard the wobbly jump in Sochi and try to defeat Kim with an otherwise clean program. Otherwise, this theory goes, point deductions could cost her a shot at any medal.

“Mao’s obsession with the triple axel has clearly gone too far,” the columnist Jack Gallagher wrote in The Japan Times. “She is such a gifted and beautiful skater and so beloved by her fans that they are all being set up for a huge letdown in Sochi. Here is the dilemma: If she could not beat Kim Yu-na in Vancouver when she was hitting the triple axel, how is she going to do it in Sochi while not being able to land it?”

At Skate America, though, Asada said self-satisfaction would trump any rivalry with Kim in Sochi. She is skating more for herself than a particular spot on the medal podium, she said.

“Obviously a lot of people would be happy to have a silver medal in the Olympics,” Asada said. “But that season, most of the jumps I couldn’t do. I wasn’t happy about it. That’s why I came back, to be perfect for myself, the jumps and everything.”

Enlarge This Image

Shizuo Kambayashi/Associated Press

Mao Asada mastered the triple axel by age 15 but later lost her command of other maneuvers.

After the Vancouver Games, Asada essentially began to learn to jump again. She had grown taller; her body had changed. As a girl, she had been uninterested in the easier jumps, devoted instead to refining the more challenging axel. But the current scoring system demands precision in every jump and spin and connecting footwork to amass points. Small lapses can make a medalist an also-ran.

In September 2010, Asada began working with the renowned Japanese coaches Nobuo and Kumiko Sato, a husband and wife whose daughter, Yuka, is a former world champion. It was at times a tedious and frustrating transformation.

“My father is always positive, and he encourages his skaters, but he never lies,” Yuka Sato said. “Facing reality, and not sugarcoating it, is something of a harsh, tough love. I’m sure he doubted at some points, but he didn’t give up.”

It was Asada who considered quitting. In December 2011, she was in Quebec City to compete in the Grand Prix Final when she learned that her mother, Kyoko Asada, was gravely ill. Mao withdrew from the competition and flew home to Japan. Before she arrived, her mother died of cirrhosis of the liver.

The two had been extremely close. For a brief period, Kyoko Asada had even coached her daughter. Several months after her mother’s death, Asada finished a disappointing sixth at the 2012 world championship. Her sense of personal loss, along with the vexation of learning to jump again, left her despondent.

Her agent, Mariko Wada, said Asada told her, “I cannot do this anymore.”

In May 2012, Asada traveled to Toronto to visit Nichol, her choreographer. She was seeking an exhibition program, debating whether to give up competitive skating. For several days, Asada played tennis, went canoeing, skated and listened to music with Nichol, who suggested upbeat pieces, including “I Got Rhythm” and music from “Mary Poppins,” that might lift the skater and help her pay tribute to her mother.

“I knew she was considering not competing,” Nichol said. “Her mother dying, and Mao perhaps giving up all she had known since she was small, I was concerned what that would do to her.”

Skating to the lighthearted music, Asada began to lose her mournfulness, to smile and grow buoyant and rekindle her love for the sport, Wada said. “She realized she still liked skating,” Wada said. “She needed skating.”

The transformation in Asada since Vancouver is particularly evident in her ethereal short program this Olympic season, skated to Chopin’s Nocturne in E flat major, Op. 9 No. 2. To win gold in Sochi, Asada will have to recover the steadiness of autumn that has grown elusive in early winter.

“Let’s say she doesn’t win gold,” Nichol said. “She will still know that she can have happiness after sadness, that life is ever-changing and that she is strong enough to handle it. That is something important to know as you grow up.”