After a highly competitive short program on Tuesday evening the women’s figure skating competition will take on added excitement Thursday night as the free skate program is put on display at the 2010 Winter Olympics with gold at stake. The first skater, Tugba Karademir, is scheduled to take the ice at 8:00 p.m. ET.
Kim Yu-Na is the favorite to win gold after scoring a record 78.50 for her short program on Tuesday. The South Korean is the 2009 Worlds champion and entered the Vancouver Olympics with expectations of winning gold but she’ll need to skate a clean performance on Thursday to lock that up and stand atop the podium.
Putting pressure on Kim Yu-Na is Japan’s Mao Asada who set the tone on Tuesday night with a remarkable 73.78 mark for her short program. That performance certainly put her in position to challenge for gold and on Thursday night she’ll know exactly what she needs as she follows Kim Yu-Na onto the ice.
Canada’s Joannie Rochette, the sentimental favorite in the women’s figure skating event, will take the ice next to last and has a shot at gold as well. Rochette put together the performance of her life on Tuesday, less than two days after learning her mother had passed away. The emotional short program was met with huge applause and earned her a 71.36, a personal best, and put her in medal contention.
The United States has a pair of skaters with a shot at the podium but it will take flawless execution and perhaps a slip from some of the top women for that to happen. Rachael Flatt currently sits fifth in the standings following her 64.64 on Tuesday while her teammate Mirai Nagasu is in sixth after her 63.76.
Women’s Figure Skating Free Skate Start List for Thursday NIght:
1 |
TUR |
Tugba Karademir |
2 |
ESP |
Sonia Lafuente |
3 |
CHN |
Liu Yan |
4 |
EST |
Elena Glebova |
5 |
UZB |
Anastasia Gimazetdinova |
6 |
GER |
Sarah Hecken |
7 |
CAN |
Cynthia Phaneuf |
8 |
FIN |
Kiira Korpi |
9 |
AUS |
Cheltzie Lee |
10 |
SUI |
Sarah Meier |
11 |
HUN |
Julia Sebestyen |
12 |
KOR |
Kwak Min-Jung |
13 |
RUS |
Alena Leonova |
14 |
JPN |
Akiko Suzuki |
15 |
ITA |
Carolina Kostner |
16 |
FIN |
Laura Lepisto |
17 |
RUS |
Ksenia Makarova |
18 |
GEO |
Elene Gedevanishvili |
19 |
USA |
Rachael Flatt |
20 |
JPN |
Miki Ando |
21 |
KOR |
Kim Yu-Na |
22 |
JPN |
Mao Asada |
23 |
CAN |
Joannie Rochette |
24 |
USA |
Mirai Nagasu |
Results after Tuesday night’s Women’s Figure Skating Short Program:
1 |
KOR |
Kim Yu-Na |
78.50-Q |
2 |
JPN |
Mao Asada |
73.78-Q |
3 |
CAN |
Joannie Rochette |
71.36-Q |
4 |
JPN |
Miki Ando |
64.76-Q |
5 |
USA |
Rachael Flatt |
64.64-Q |
6 |
USA |
Mirai Nagasu |
63.76-Q |
7 |
ITA |
Carolina Kostner |
63.02-Q |
8 |
RUS |
Alena Leonova |
62.14-Q |
9 |
GEO |
Elene Gedevanishvili |
61.92-Q |
10 |
FIN |
Laura Lepisto |
61.36-Q |
###
Click here for more Sports News
About WooEB
WooEB Community is a business, music and social networking community. WooEB provides members with a wealth of applications that enable them to create an in-depth profile within the community. Profiles include an About Me, Background and Lifestyle, Videos, Photo sharing, News, Music, Blogs, unique URL and networking with other members inside the WooEB community. WooEB provides ADit to each member providing them the opportunity to have an exclusive profile (no outside advertising) displaying only banner ads they upload to their pages. Members can run their own ads or give or sell their ad space to advertisers at prices the member sets.
To create your profile sign up and within minutes you too can have your People profile running your ads and building your network with new members daily.
WooEB is owned and operated by TransWorldNews, Inc. a news and press release distribution service.