Asada scores back-to-back figure skating GP wins

Japan's two-time world champion Mao Asada won back-to-back Grand Prix titles on Saturday, in a warning to her archrival and Olympic champion Kim Yu-Na ahead of the Sochi Winter Games. Asada's compatriot and former world champion Daisuke Takahashi, who is recovering from a stumbling start to the Olympic season, took the men's title at the NHK Trophy in Tokyo, the fourth leg of the six-round Grand Prix series. Asada, the runner-up to Kim at the 2010 Vancouver Olympics, broke her own personal best scores in the free skating and the combined total, slightly closing up big gaps on the South Korean superstar's world records. Reigning world champion Kim, who like Asada is 23, has skipped the Grand Prix tour due to a foot injury but is preparing to make her season debut at the lower-tier event Golden Spin in Zagreb, Croatia, from December 5 to 8. "It will really be a huge inspiration for me if I can skate together with her on the same big stage and at the centre of great attention as we did in Vancouver," said Asada, who also won the season-opening Grand Prix, Skate America. The world's top skaters can only take part in two of the six Grand Prix events each season. Going out with a 5.23-point lead from Friday's short programme, Asada under-rotated her opening triple axel and took off with the wrong edge on a triple lutz to lose some points. But she landed four more triple jumps and marked a maximum level-four in two spins and one step sequence to the music of "Piano Concerto No. 2" by Rachmaninov. She earned 136.33 points in the free skate, bringing her combined total to 207.59 points. Her previous best free skate score was 134.37 at the world championships last March. She scored her best combined total of 205.50 at the 2010 Olympics, where Kim set world records of 150.06 and 228.56 points. Russia's 14-year-old world junior champion Elena Radionova finished second overall on Saturday at 191.81, including 128.98 from the free skate. Another Japanese, Akiko Suzuki, placed third at 179.32 overall. "I feel I have really brushed up my short programme," said Asada, who fell on a triple axel in the free skate at Skate America. "But I have not yet reached my target level in the free skating." Asada is the only active female skater who has regularly executed the difficult 3.5-revolution triple axel. She has struggled with the high-scoring element since landing three triple axels in Vancouver. But her success rate has been improving this season. "I want to land two (triple) axels in the free skate. I believe I have room for improvement in technical aspects." Asada qualified for the December 5-8 Grand Prix Final in Fukuoka, Japan, which brings together the top six finishers in each category in the series. In the men's free skating, Takahashi, only fourth at Skate America, opened his long programme with a clean quadruple toeloop. But the 27-year-old under-rotated another quadruple attempt in his next element. Skating to a medley of Beatles tunes, he went on to nail two triple axels and four triple jumps, touching the ice once in landing. Takahashi, who lifted the Olympics bronze medal and the world championship gold in 2010, dazzled with steps and spins, hitting a maximum level-four in most of them. He marked the highest free-skate score of 172.76 points, only 2.3 points better than compatriot Nobunari Oda. Takahashi finished on top with a combined total of 268.31 points, followed by Oda at 253.16 and former US champion Jeremy Abbott at 237.41. Takahashi's victory kept alive his chance of qualifying for the Grand Prix Final. "I guess I was a bit overwhelmed by the atmosphere, which was quite tense today," Takahashi said. "But I managed to show improvement from Skate America," he said. "I think my confidence has come back somewhat." He has struggled with four-revolution jumps in recent years -- crashing in the short programme at Skate America.