Berliner Tageblatt - Japan's Mihara tops South Korean trio in Four Continents short programme

Skating to "I Dreamed a Dream," Mihara nailed a triple Lutz-triple toeloop combination, a triple flip and double Axel to set a new personal best score of 72.62 points.

The 22-year-old led South Korea's Lee Hae-in (69.97), Kim Ye-lim (68.93) and You Young (67.86) in an event moved to Estonia after China cancelled the scheduled competition in Tianjin due to Covid-19.

Mihara is looking to put her disappointing fourth in Japanese nationals behind her and reclaim a title she won five years ago and has medalled in twice since then.

"I hope I can do everything that I plan to put all the regrets and bitterness I felt at the nationals behind me," she added.

Lee, 16, improved her season's best by six points for her performance to "Ave Maria", while Kim, 18, slipped up on her step sequences to Franz Liszt's "Liebestraum".

"I have two weeks before the Olympics so I want to do more about spins and steps so that I can get a higher score," said Kim.

"This Four Continents is more special, because most Olympic team members are not here, so it's a very, very good chance for me."

In pairs, American's Audrey Lu and Misha Mitrofanov lead Canada's Evelyn Walsh and Trennt Michaud after the short programme.

Caroline Green and Michael Parsons of the United States go into the ice dancing final ahead of Japan's Kana Muramoto and Daisuke Takahashi after the rhythm dance section on Thursday.

M.Furrer--BTB