Confident Kim heads to final

SOUTH Korea's Kim Yu-na has every reason to feel confident heading into this weekend's Grand Prix figure skating final.

Kim advanced to the GP finals after two golds this season at the Trophee Bompard and Skate America to finish first overall in the women's standings.

Japan's Mao Asada, who beat Kim at last year's GP final in South Korea, didn't even qualify for this year's event after a second-place finish in France and a disappointing fifth in Russia.

"I try not think about what happened at the last Grand Prix final," Kim said yesterday. "A lot has changed since then and I feel confident about winning here."

China will be looking to dominate the pairs event with the teams of Shen Xue and Zhao Hongbo and Pang Qing and Tong Jian. Both couples won two gold medals in the Grand Prix series this season.

With the Vancouver Olympics just around the corner, Kim looks to be peaking at just the right time. Asada, who many consider Kim's main rival, has struggled under Russian coach Tatiana Tarasova.

Kim, the reigning world champion, is hoping a good result at the GP final will add to her confidence heading to Vancouver.

"This is the last major competition before the Olympics," Kim said. "I want to get a good result here to have a good feeling for the Olympics."

Kim will be bidding for her third GP final title in four years when the women's short program begins tomorrow at Yoyogi Arena.

Joining Kim will be Japan's Miki Ando, who had wins at the NHK Trophy last month and the Rostelecom Cup in Moscow and will be carrying the hopes of the host nation along with Akiko Suzuki, who qualified after winning the Cup of China and finishing fifth at Skate Canada.

In the men's event, reigning world champion Evan Lysacek claimed victory at Skate America and finished second at the Cup of China to qualify for Tokyo.

"I'm feeling pretty good," Lysacek said. "I've trained really hard for this and with the Olympics coming up this is very important."

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