Carolina Kostner of Italy captured the Ladies Short Program. Kanako Murakami of Japan finished second ahead of Rachel Flatt (USA) while World Champion Mao Asada (JPN) faded to 8th. Performing a characteristic Flamenco program, Kostner hit a triple toe-double toe combination, a triple loop, double Axel and got a level three for her spins and footwork. She earned 57.27 points. “I'm just happy to be here and I didn't have any expectations coming into this competition”, Kostner said. She is suffering from pain in her left knee and missed training time this summer and fall. “Tomorrow is a new day and I just try to concentrate on having as much fun as I did today.” Murakami went for the triple toe-triple toe combination, but the first jump was underrotated. She went on to nail a triple flip and double Axel in her upbeat program to “Jumpin' Jack” to score 56.10 points. “I didn't really feel more pressure. I had to be more serious than usual, although I'm always serious in competition”, she said, laughing. “The audience clapped along and that really helped me through the program.”
Flatt turned in a solid performance to “Summertime” and “Oh, But on the Third Day” that included a triple Lutz-double toe combination, a triple flip and a level-four flying camel spin. The U.S. Champion was awarded 53.69 points. “I'm very excited with how I skated tonight. I'm a little disappointed that I didn't get my triple Lutz-triple loop in. I've been working on it in training a lot”, Flatt said. Asada made errors on all three jump elements: she landed forward on the triple Axel, singled the flip and the triple loop in her combination with a double loop was underrotated.
