Ice girl Kim captures second Grand Prix final title
TURIN, Italy (AFP) — South Korea's Yu-na Kim captured her second successive Grand Prix final title on Saturday but 14-year-old Caroline Zhang showed she will be a force at the 2010 Olympics with a stunning display.
Kim finished on 196.83 points with Japan's Mao Asada (191.59), thanks to the best free programme, taking second place, with Italy's European champion Carolina Kostner (178.93) clinching third with a personal best total.
Asada, who had struggled in Friday's short programme, fought back on Saturday skating to Chopin's Fantaisie Impromptu and pulled off a triple Flip-triple toe loop combination.
But it was never enough to threaten Kim who overcame a fall on her triple toe loop in her routine played out to Miss Saigon.
America's Caroline Zhang, the world junior champion of Chinese origin, finished fourth after an impressive performance to Gounod's Ave Maria.
She fell on her triple Lutz, but still scored a personal best of 176.48.
Switzerland's double world champion Stephane Lambiel edged out Japan's Daisuke Takahashi to win his second men's title.
Lambiel scored 155.30 points in his free programme to flamenco music, giving him a total of 239.10 points.
Takahashi finished just behind on 238.94 points after performing to Tchaikovsky's Romeo and Juliet. American Evan Lysacek was a distant third on 229.78 points after falling when attempting a triple Salchow to Puccini's Tosca.
Lambiel clinched the victory by nailing a combination flip-triple-double toe-loop jump.
"I'm delighted with my performance and the result. It was a great battle and a competition of the highest level," said Lambiel.
Takahashi, for his part, regretted a mistake he made that ultimately saw him miss out on the gold medal by just 0.16 points.
"I messed up my first quadruple and didn't do the right steps. Therefore, I have to be happy with second place," he said.
Oksana Domnina and Maxim Shabalin of Russia won the ice-dancing competition after producing an outstanding free dance programme.
The Russian duo went into Saturday's competition in third place after the original programme behind America's Tanith Belbin and Benjamin Agosto, and French pair Isabelle Delobel and Olivier Schoenfelder.
But Domina and Shabalin, dancing to Khatchaturian's Mascarade Waltz, produced a personal best score of 103.26 points for a total of 165.57.
"We're very happy with the way we skated and with the result," the Russian pair said.
Overnight leaders Belbin and Agosto were second with 164.14 points while Delobel and Schoenfelder finished in third on 163.40.
Germany's Aliona Savchenko and Robin Szolkowy won the pair's title with 199.23 points ahead of China's Zhang Dan and Zhang Hao and Pang Qing and Tong Jian who were second and third respectively.
