October 17, 3:12 PMFigure Skating ExaminerJackie Wong

Ladies champion Yu-Na Kim in an ina
bauer during her free skate
Photo: AP/Francois Mori

World champion Yu-Na Kim comes out on top in her latest head-to-head battle with Japanese rival Mao Asada. Kim did not just win Trophee Eric Bompard, she did it in spectacular fashion, becoming the first lady to have a total score of over 210 points and beating silver medalist Asada by over 36 points. Asada’s teammate, Yukari Nakano, took the bronze.

As if her world record performance at last season’s World Championships was not enough, Kim established two new world records with her free skate score of 133.95 and her total score of 210.03. With her performances in Paris, she continues to widen the gap between herself and the rest of the ladies in the world. But perhaps the more demoralizing fact for her opponents is that she produced these scores even after omitting her triple flip, a loss of 5.5 off her base value. But the other elements of her program were both clean and superbly executed, earning her almost all positive grades of execution (GOE).

After singling her triple axel attempt in the short program, Asada hit her first attempt in the free skate, showing one of the most effortless triple axels in the world. But few errors crept in thereafter, as she underrotated her second triple axel and fell on her double axel later in the program. Those mistakes were compounded by a series of downgraded jumps in the middle of the program, which dropped her base value significantly. But her score of 115.03 is still a solid score, and she will be looking to clean up the deductions during the season.

Bronze medalist Nakano had three clean triple jumps but received two downgrades due to underrotation. Her 106.06 score was an improvement over her effort at the Japan Open two weeks ago. She dislocated her shoulder during a fall on her triple axel at the Japan Open, and she opted to not attempt it in Paris. 

U.S. bronze medalist Caroline Zhang finished fourth overall after receiving downgrades on both her triple salchow and her second triple loop, which lowered her base value by over 6.5 points. 2008 U.S. junior champion Alexe Gilles landed four triples in the free skate in her debut in senior international competition and finished right behind Zhang. Italy’s Carolina Kostner continued to struggle with her jumps and finished in 6^th place.

LADIES (final standings)
1. Yu-Na Kim KOR – 210.03
2. Mao Asada JPN – 173.99
3. Yukari Nakano JPN – 165.70
4. Caroline Zhang USA – 153.15
5. Alexe Gilles USA – 151.92
6. Carolina Kostner ITA – 147.63
7. Elene Gedevanishvili GEO – 143.43
8. Kiira Korpi FIN – 138.83
9. Gwendoline Didier FRA – 118.07
10. Anna Jurkiewicz POL – 115.06