Saturday, March 24, 2007 Updated: March 26, 10:37 AM ET
Ando wins world skate title; Meissner takes fourth
Associated Press
TOKYO -- Miki Ando won the women's title at the World Figure
Skating Championships on Saturday, leading a 1-2 finish for the
host country with Japanese teammate Mao Asada second.
Kimmie Meissner didn't skate her best and finished fourth.
Kim Yu-na of South Korea, who led after the short program, got
the bronze medal. Defending champion Kimmie Meissner of the United
States was fourth.
Ando didn't do a much-anticipated quad, but her seven triples to
a Mendelssohn violin concerto earned her a total score of 195.09.
That was enough to edge Asada, who had the best marks in the
free-skating portion of the competition.
Skating last, after Asada had excited the crowd, the 19-year-old
Ando kept her poise and delivered a solid performance. She had a
triple-triple to start and ended up crying when she saw her winning
score.
Asada, fifth entering the free skate, scored 194.45 points for
the silver medal.
Asada tried a triple axel, but was slightly two-footed, and also
underrotated a combination. But she then zipped through the rest of
her routine to Hungarian music, ending with a three-jump
combination in the final 30 seconds that earned bonus points under
the new system.
She beat Ando in the free skate 133.13 to 127.11.
"I was very impressed by myself," Asada said. "I love skating
at home."
Kim struggled through 30 seconds in the middle of her routine.
She looked solid in her first two minutes. But then she fell on the
first jump of what was to be a three-jump combination, fell again
and had another combination ruled scoreless.
'"My condition was worse today. My legs felt heavy. But I had a
good season but I am happy with it," said Kim, who won the Grand
Prix final over Asada and Ando last December.
Meissner had a couple of jumps undervalued in a flamenco
routine.
"I had to skate after Mao did awesome. I couldn't tune out the
screams," Meissner said. "It was not my best. I can do better. So
I will regroup and come back next year."
