TURIN, Italy — While Olympic champion Kim Yu-na crumbled, American Mirai Nagasu soared.
Nagasu was in first place after a nearly flawless short program at the World Figure Skating Championships on Friday. Kim, who has lost only one competition over the last two seasons and was downright majestic in winning gold in Vancouver, was in seventh place after two major errors in an uncharacteristically sloppy performance.
Nagasu scored a season-best 70.40, putting her two points ahead of Olympic silver medalist Mao Asada of Japan — and more than 10 in front of Kim. Finland’s Laura Lepisto was third. The free skate is Saturday.
“I think they will be back on their game tomorrow,” Nagasu, 16, said after seeing Kim and Asada skate. “I am sure they are tired after the Olympics, as I am, but I just have to concentrate on myself and do the best long program I can.”
Kim has been in a class of her own the last two seasons, and she capped it with her dazzling performance in Vancouver. Adored in her native South Korea, she handled the massive expectations with cool grace, setting world records for both her short and long programs. Her total score was more than 23 points better than Asada’s, a massive rout.
But there’s a reason many of the Olympic gold medalists skip the world championships, held just a month after the games end. There is bound to be a letdown after achieving the sport’s greatest prize, and it’s hard to get back into training.
“One week ago, before I got here, I was a little bit scared,” Kim acknowledged. “But I was ready.”
She didn’t look like herself Friday, though.
She received no credit at all for a spin, underrotated a triple flip and bungled a spiral. Not even her strong opening triple-triple combo could make up for that. Her score of 60.30 points was more than 18 points behind her record-setting performance at the Vancouver Games.
“I felt very good at the warmup. My first jump, the triple-triple, was really great. And then after that I felt I was ready to do a triple flip. It was really weird. I don’t know what happened,” Kim said. “It’s the first time I missed the elements like that.”
Nagasu won the U.S. title in 2008, but then struggled with a growth spurt and ordinary teenage angst. She switched to coach Frank Carroll last spring — she now trains alongside Olympic men’s champion Evan Lysacek — and the move has done wonders for her skill and confidence. She was fourth at the Vancouver Games, and has made it clear she wants to be the one to watch in the lead-up to the Sochi Games.
This was a good start.
Though her opening triple-triple combination was slightly underrotated, the rest of her short program was exemplary. Lysacek, not competing in turin, was ecstatic with his training partner’s success, posting a message on Twitter that said, “Wow!!!! So happy for you!”
Asada, the 2008 world champion, trails Nagasu largely because she underrotated the triple axel in her opening combination.
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