Top Sporting News

MOSCOW – Miki Ando of Nihon won the world amount skating championships after overcoming Olympic metallic medalist Kim Yu-na in a duel of surpassing elegance on Saturday.

The conclusion by the Japanese skater, who also won at the 2007 worlds, was run in a rivalry that was originally ordered to verify locate in her country before it was impact by an seism and tsunami in late March.

"I was skating for Nihon and I never cared most the result. I'm really bright to hit a metallic medal," Ando said. "I worked hornlike and I've become a little bit of a stronger skater than a assemblage ago."

Both skaters' liberated programs contained languid moves interspersed with moments of power and steely control. They were within inferior than half a saucer of apiece other going into the liberated skate.

Ando, skating to Grieg's "Piano Concerto in A Minor," in the final assemble of six, unsealed with a manifold lutz-double drive loop. She didn't falter until the middle of the program, when she stepped out of a double axel and low the designed compounding manifold drive to a double.

But she regained her poise, had threesome more solidified triples and a double axel-double loop-double wrap cascade so astonishing that it drew gasps from the crowd.

Kim made her season entry after onset railcar Brian Orser and moving her upbringing humble from Toronto to Los Angeles in the past year. She started even more boldly with a manifold lutz-triple toe. Her information — "Homage to Korea" — ordered to a unforgettable assemblage of traditional Asiatic music and choreographed by river king Wilson, was a crowd-pleaser at Megasport Arena.

But she apace ran into trouble, singling two of her next threesome jumps. She also featured a cascade play with a double axel, but one of the subsequent jumps was a drive wrap instead of a loop, giving the element slightly inferior value.

"I'm meet so glad that the rivalry is over," Kim said. "After the Olympics, I was thinking: 'Am I going to become back to rivalry or not?' ... Mentally I couldn't kibosh thinking: 'Why do I hit to do this?' I think that was the hardest thing. But then I change primed to go and I thought: 'I crapper do this.'"

Italy's Carolina Kostner improved from ordinal locate to verify the bronze, with a charming information to the lethargic strains of Debussy's "Afternoon of a Faun," marred exclusive by sound one triple.

"Last assemblage it was a hornlike time for me, so it was a bounteous emotion meet to eventually again meet savor it," she said. "To be healthy to get a ribbon ... meet makes it more special."

For the United States, Alissa Czisny ended fifth in the liberated skate and coverall standings. dweller Rachael Flatt was 12th overall.

All of terminal year's champions entered this year, but with threesome disciplines completed, hour of the defenders prevailed. commie Asada of Nihon ended ordinal after an error-filled brief program. Daisuke Takahashi ended ordinal in the men's, overwhelmed in a earth won by Canada's Apostle Chan, who ordered threesome world records in the process. Aliona Savchenko and Robin Szolkowy won the pairs, with 2010 champions Pang Manchu and Tong Jian of China settling for bronze.

However, Tessa Virtue and histrion Moir of Canada were position to indorse their cover diversion metallic later Saturday, closely challenged by Meryl Davies and Charlie White of the United States.

Russian spectators desire for a return to the country's one-time eminence in women's skating had something to embolden and lament.

Alena Leonova, who had a disappointing action at the Cup of Russia, nailed heptad triples in her high-spirited liberated information to modify in ordinal place, inferior than a saucer behindhand Kostner. Ksenia Makarova, who had been third after the brief program, ended ordinal after a start in a liberated information that was marred by other errors.

___

Associated Press illustrator king Nowak contributed to this report.

Source