Kim Yu-na reigns on her return

Kim Yu-na performs during her short program at the NRW Trophy in Dortmund, Germany, Saturday. Kim made a comeback to competitive skating after a 20-month sabbatical, but posted the season’s highest score of 72.27 points. / Yonhap

Despite a nearly two-year absence from competitive skating, Kim Yu-na was great on her return.

The 22-year-old picked up where she left off Saturday in the short program at the NRW Trophy in Dortmund, Germany, posting the season’s highest score with a near-flawless performance.

Kim, who claimed the figure skating Olympic gold medal in Vancouver in 2010 after setting a world record of 228.56 points, earned 72.27 points, 4.32 higher than her Japanese rival Mao Asada’s previous season best of 67.95 set at the NHK Trophy last month. In addition, it is her fifth-best career score since she made her senior debut in 2006.

“Although I was nervous ahead of the competition, I tried to execute the required elements one by one,” Kim said.

“I made one mistake but overall I was satisfied with my performance.”

Since Kim last competed at the world championships in April last year, she took a 20-month hiatus from competitive skating including all of last season, but performed in corporate-sponsored ice shows, meaning she is not automatically eligible for the world championships, which she won in 2009. To secure her place, Kim needs at least 28 points in her technical element score in the short program, and a minimum 48 points in the free skate.

She achieved her first mission with 37.42 in the technical element score.

“As you know, if you are too nervous, you do not know what scores you are going to get,” Kim said.

“Instead of focusing on my total score, I tried concentrating on the technical aspects. In my head actually, I kept focusing on the fact that you cannot make mistakes. But overall, I am pretty satisfied with the score I got today.”

Kim, a three-time Grand Prix Final winner, put in an intense display to “The Kiss of the Vampire” from the soundtrack to the 1963 horror movie of the same name, hitting a triple Lutz-triple toe combination, a triple flip and three level-three spins en route to the season-best mark.

While preparing for her comeback, becoming “match-fit” was the most difficult part, she said before flying to Germany on Wednesday. But she is now OK with the issue.

“I have enough basic physical strength to complete the free skate.”

She added that she has just gotten over the first hurdle and will come up with a solid display in the free skate if she performs as she usually does. <The Korea Times/Kang Seung-woo>