Tallinn/ Estonia

 #4ContsFigure  #FigureSkating

Mai Mihara of Japan skated off with her second Four Continents title at the ISU Four Continents Championships in Tallinn (EST) Saturday. Korea’s Haein Lee and Yelim Kim claimed silver and bronze, their first ISU Championship medals. It is also the first time that two Korean Skaters stand on the podium at an ISU Championship.

Mihara, who skated last, delivered a beautiful performance to “Fairy of the Forest”, reeling off a triple Lutz-triple toe, triple flip, triple Salchow, double Axel-triple toe, triple Lutz-double toe-double loop and triple loop as well as two level-four spins. The only glitch came when she struggled with her final spin. The 2017 ISU Four Continents Champions posted a personal best with 145.41 points and totaled 218.03 points to take her fourth Four Continents medal overall. 

MaiMiharaarticle

Mai Mihara of Japan © International Skating Union (ISU)

“I was just so nervous today before the program. I was trying not to cry and tears were welling up. I was telling myself ‘what am I going to do?’ But then I said to myself ‘there is no choice, I just have to go and do this’,” the 22-year-old said.

“I was able to remain calm going into my first jump. At the end there was a little bit of a glitch on the spin and I really regret that, but there were no major mistakes and thanks to all the fans and the audience for supporting me so I was able to perform well today.”

Skating to Korean music, Lee landed seven clean triples including a triple Lutz-triple toe and a double Axel-triple toe to score 143.55 points, surpassing her previous personal best by almost 10 points. The 2019 ISU Junior Grand Prix finalist accumulated 213.52 points to get on to her first ISU Championships podium. 

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Haein Lee of Korea © International Skating Union (ISU)

“First of all I had experience at the (2020) Junior World Championships in the same place - Tallinn, Estonia. (In 2020) I did a pretty good job in the short program, but unfortunately in the free skating I made a mistake and it was kind of a (bad) memory for myself in that championship,” the 16-year-old noted. “But I did a great job for this Four Continents in the same place and, in that respect, I’m very happy about it. At that moment in the Junior World Championships I had tears of sorrow and sadness, but it just changed into tears of joy and delight for Four Continents in the same place,” she continued.

Kim’s program to “Violin Fantasy on Puccini’s Turandot” featured a triple Lutz-triple toe as well as five more triple jumps. She achieved a personal best as well with 140.98 points and remained in third place at 209.91 points overall. 

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Yelim Kim of Korea © International Skating Union (ISU)

“This is my third Four Continents competition and of course I wanted to get the medal at some point and that was only my thinking or dreaming here. Getting the medal is a dream came true. I will have more passion and power to remember this moment for my skating life,” the National silver medalist said.

Audrey Shin (USA) finished fourth with a strong performance that included seven triples (203.86 points). Rino Matsuike (JPN) pulled up from eighth to fifth place with another excellent performance. She was ranked third in the Free Skating (202.21 points).  2020 ISU Four Continents silver medalist Young You (KOR) fell on her triple Axel to come sixth (198.56 points). 

2017 ISU World bronze medalist Gabrielle Daleman (CAN) placed 10th

For more information, full entry lists and results please see the ISU event website and the official event website. Follow the discussion on social media using #4ContsFigure and #FigureSkating. 

  

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