Kim Yu-na Takes China Cup Title

South Korean figure staking sensation Kim Yu-na rallied to win the women’s title Saturday at the Cup of China tourney.

The 17-year-old Kim, who was in third place after the short program, set a personal best score of 122.36 points in the long program and scored 180.68 overall to win the gold at the Grand Prix of Figure Skating in Harbin in northeast China’s Heilongjiang Province.

She edged American Caroline Zhang (156.34) and Carolina Kostner of Italy (143.86), the second and third finishers, respectively, by a whopping 24 points and 37 points.

Skating to the tune of “Miss Saigon,” Kim executed most of her moves to near perfection. Her triple flip-triple loop combination had no competition in both height and accuracy. She also successfully executed a triple salchow and a double axel-triple toe loop combination, which she tried for the first time in this season.

More rigorous ISU grading standards newly adopted this season posed no problems for Kim. Among the 12 competitors in the women’s event, Kim was the only skater who managed to avoid deductions in her long program.

She showed more guts than before also. Although European champion Kostner slipped on the rough ice surface three times, Kim seemed unaffected. “My condition was great, so I did not feel pressure,” said Kim.

The only figure skater to draw a comparison to Kim was Japanese teen Asada Mao. Asada won the Cup of Canada with a total of 177.66 points recently.

Kim will compete in the Cup of Russia, the 5th Grand Prix figure skating event of the season, but Asada won’t be there. The first match of the season between these two teenage stars will come in the Grand Prix final in December.

kimsk@donga.com