omonatheydid | Kim Yuna Figure Skating Short Programme Viewing/Discussion Post

Kim Yuna and skating rival Mao Asada. Omona will hold your ear-rangs, ladies

It's gonna be a what? GIRL FIGHT!

Early bird Kim takes to Vancouver ice

Vancouver (AFP) - South Korean figure skating superstar Kim Yu-Na hit early morning triple-triples as she took to the ice for the first time at the Pacific Coliseum ahead of her Olympic bid.

The 19-year-old shook her head gracefully to tell waiting reporters she would not talk after completing 40 minutes at the venue where she will bid next week to become her country's first Olympic figure skating champion.

"Now it's her time to focus on herself," her coach Brian Orsersaid of Kim, who is ranked by Forbes as the top earning Winter Olympian alongside snowboarder Shaun White after making eight million dollars last year .

"We're finally here, that is exciting. The last couple of weeks work were amazing.

"We had the last practise a couple of days ago in Toronto. She got off the ice and I said 'you're ready, let's go to Vancouver!'"

Kim is hot favourite to deliver gold after dominating this season after claiming her first world title last year.

She arrived in Vancouver on Friday from her training base in Toronto and was mobbed by 300 reporters.

"She's under enormous pressure, but everyone is under pressure just to be here," said former Olympic two-time men's medallist Orser.

"She knows what she needs to do in practise in order to achieve her goal.

"I want her to be comfortable in the space that is going to be our home for the next five to six days."

Kim ran through her James Bond short programme on front of hundreds of spectators attending the training session.

Japanese rivals Mao Asada and Miki Ando missed their earlier planned 7am session, but teammate Akiko Suzuki braved the early start.

Former world champion Asada has hit the difficult triple axel jump in competition, but Canada's Orser believes that, like with the men's quadruple, it will not give her an automative advantage even if she tries it here.

"People will be discussing that, but they're people who don't understand the system," he said.

"We saw that in the men's event, it's not just the quad but all the other elements where you can earn more points."

And he added: "The triple-triple combination is huge, it's difficult, but it's only one element. You can't put all your eggs in one basket."

Kim has lost just twice in the past two seasons, both times to Asada, 19, at the 2008 worlds and the 2008-2009 Grand Prix final.

She opens her bid in the short programme on February 23, with the free skating final two days later.

Asada confident of dethroning Queen Kim

Japan's Mao Asada arrived in Vancouver Saturday and insisted she has the form to shatter arch-rival and reigning world champion Kim Yu-Na's dreams of Olympic gold.

The 19-year-old boasted that her skating is even better than when she won the Four Continents title last month and she was planning three triple axels in her bid to stop the South Korean favourite.

"As far as the quad is concerned I haven't practised it and I am not planning it," she said.

"As for the triple axel I have one in the short programme and two planned in the free programme. I hope to challenge myself and land those."

Asada, coached by famed Russian Tatiana Tarasova, is the only female skater who regularly executes the difficult 3.5-revolution jump in international competitions.

But by landing two in free skating to the solemn but sombre music of "Bells of Moscow" by Sergei Rachmaninov, she won her fourth national title in December and the Four Continents in South Korea in Kim's absence in January.

Asada had then put her chances of winning Olympic gold at 80 percent.

She now believes the odds have shortened.

"After that I practised more. I feel that I'm in even better condition than before the Four Continents," she said.

"I don't know if I can give you any numerical figure for the probability but I'm very confident for all the elements especially in the short programme."

Despite her late arrival for the competition which starts on Tuesday, Asada said she should have no problem adapting to the time difference because she has been practising at 6am in the morning in Japan.

"I don't think I'll need much to adjust very quickly."

She has had a busy first day in Vancouver practising and settling in at the Olympic village, while Kim has opted to stay in a hotel.

"I was really surprised. There are many athletes, it's like a town of its own," she said.

"I'm still very excited. During the Turin Olympics I was watching on television."

Group 5
21. Lepisto FIN
22. Asada JPN
23. Kim KOR
24. Suzuki JPN
25. Leonova RUS
Full List of Skaters

Will Korea's ice princess Yuna beat out Asada or will she crumble under the pressure? 1st we have to get through the short programme.

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