Hope for Another Come-from-behind Victory

Four out of six

This is the number of figure skating sensation Kim Yu-na’s free skating exercises among six official trainings allowed at the World Figure Skating Championships that started on March 17 in Gothenburg, Sweden.

Given other players placed more importance on the short program and exercised both the short program and the free skate with even numbers, it shows how much effort Kim put into the free skating competition scheduled for Friday.

In the short program held Monday, Kim was ranked in the fifth place with 59.85 points after falling on the ice while landing after a triple lutz. She trailed Italy’s Carolina Kostner (64.28), who stole the first place, by 4.43 points and Japan’s Mao Asada by 4.25 points. Asada, who is Kim’s age, ranked second with 64.10 points.

Though Kim’s performance was not as good as expected, there is still a possibility of a come-from-behind victory considering she exerted more efforts in the free skating program where judges allot more marks.

In fact, Kim Yu-na sank in the third place with 65.05 after Mao Asada (69.34 points) and Miki Ando (67.52 points) in the short program of the 2006 Grand Prix Final. Despite the pain in the waste, she recorded 184.20 points in the free skate and won the victory defeating Asada who fell while attempting a tripe axel.

There is another instance adding her possibility to win the championship. Last year, at the third contest of the Grand Prix series, though finishing in third in the short program, Kim seized the championship after winning in the free skate.

The only cause for concern is the pain in the hip joint. She complained about the right leg pain after finishing the fourth official training on Tuesday. To assuage the pain, she was injected with the painkiller whose effect lasts for two weeks, once again in a week. “I mistimed the triple lutz due to the hip joint pain,” Kim said after the short program.

Kim Yu-na is set to participate in the free skate program at 8 a.m. on Friday and Kim Na-young, who finished 18th in the short program, will compete at 6 a.m. on the same day.

creating@donga.com