Mao Asada

Most Recent Results:
Event	Points	Finish	Year
2009 Four Continents	176.52	3rd	2009
2008-2009 GPF	188.55	1st	2008

Mao Asada is a Japanese Figure skater. She is the 2008 World Figure Skating champion and Four Continents champion, the 2005-06 and 2008-09 season Grand Prix Final champion, the 2005 World Junior champion, and a three-time Japanese national champion. Asada holds the world record for the highest combined score, sum of the Short Program and the Free Skate, under the ISU Judging System. She is also the first and only woman to have landed two triple axels in the same program at an ISU competition.

Personal life

Mao Asada was born in Nagoya, Aichi, Japan. She attended Nagoya International School until the middle of 1st grade. After transferring, she graduated from Takabari Elementary School and Takabaridai Junior High. She is a student of Chukyo High School. She was named after the Japanese actress Mao Daichi.

Her elder sister, Mai Asada, is also an elite figure skater.

Career

Novice and Junior career

Mao Asada originally started out studying ballet, but later switched to skating in 1995 when her sister, Mai Asada also switched from ballet to figure skating.

She won the Japanese Novice national championships in the 2002–2003 season and earned an invitation to compete at the Junior national championships, where she placed 4th. She could advance to the senior championships and placed 7th.

In the 2003–2004 season, Asada repeated the same placements at the Novice and Junior level and placed 8th at the senior nationals. She competed in the Mladost Trophy, the first international event of her career, and won it.

In the 2004–2005 season, Asada was internationally Junior age eligible. She competed on the ISU Junior Grand Prix, the Junior complement to the ISU Grand Prix of Figure Skating. She won both of her events. She won the Junior Grand Prix Final with an overall score 35.08 points ahead of the silver medalist, her future rival Kim Yu-Na. She won Junior national championships and qualified herself to the team for the 2005 World Junior Figure Skating Championships. The silver medalist that year was Mai Asada, who had placed ahead of Mao Asada in the two previous years.

Mao Asada's win gave her an invitation to senior national championships, where she won the silver medal. Asada was not sent to the 2005 World Championships because she was not old enough. At the Junior World Championships, she won the event with a 20.31 lead over the silver medalist, who was once again, Kim Yu-Na.

Senior career

2005–2006 Season

Having won everything on the Junior level, the choice was made for Asada to move to the senior level for the 2005–2006 season and compete on the Grand Prix. This choice was made knowing that Asada would not be allowed to compete at the 2006 Winter Olympics if she qualified for it, because there are two different age standards, one for the Grand Prix and the other for the Olympics and Worlds.

Asada competed on the Grand Prix for the first time in November 2005. She won the silver medal at her first event, the 2005 Cup of China, where she placed exactly 3 points ahead of 2006 Olympic Champion Shizuka Arakawa. Asada won her second event, the 2005 Trophée Eric Bompard, which she won with a 7.30 point margin of victory over silver medalist Sasha Cohen, who would later go on to win the silver medal at the 2006 Olympics. This win in Paris and silver medal from China qualified Asada for the 2005–2006 Grand Prix of Figure Skating Final. She won the event with a 8.14 margin of victory over silver medalist Irina Slutskaya, who would go on to win the bronze medal at the 2006 Olympics.

At the 2005–2006 Japan Figure Skating Championships, Asada won the silver medal behind Fumie Suguri. At that competition, Asada became the first lady to land two triple axels during a free skate program. She was not sent to the Olympics because she was not old enough. She was sent to the 2006 World Junior Figure Skating Championships, where she was the reigning champion competing against Junior Grand Prix Final Champion Kim Yu-Na. Asada placed second at the competition, placing 24.19 points behind Kim, and 18.21 points ahead of bronze medalist Christine Zukowski. At this competition, Asada became the first lady to land a triple axel in the short program at an ISU championship.

Asada performs her signature one-hand biellman spin at the 2006 Skate America.

During these first two years on the international scene, Asada became known for her signature move, the one-hand biellman spin position.

2006–2007 Season

Asada entered the 2006–2007 Grand Prix season with rival Kim Yu-Na also competing on the circuit. At her first event, the 2006 Skate America, Asada won the bronze medal behind Miki Ando and Kimmie Meissner. Asada had won the short program, but was fourth in the long program. She was 21.36 points out of first place. Asada won her second event, the 2006 NHK Trophy by a margin of victory of 20.21 points ahead of Fumie Suguri. At the NHK Trophy, Asada set a new world record for highest combined score under the ISU Judging System. Asada went into the Grand Prix Final as the reigning and defending champion. She placed second to Kim Yu-Na by a margin of 11.68 points. Asada had won the short program, but like at Skate America, placed fourth in the long program.

Asada won the 2006–2007 Japan Figure Skating Championships by 26.11 points ahead of Miki Ando and 32.04 points ahead of Yukari Nakano. At the 2007 World Figure Skating Championships, Asada was fifth in the short program 10.03 points behind Kim Yu-Na, who placed first in that section of the competition. She won the free skate with a score of 133.13 points, setting a new world record for the highest free skate score, a record which stood for eight months. She won the silver medal earning an overall of 194.95 points, 0.64 behind Miki Ando and 8.31 ahead of Kim Yu-Na, who won the bronze.

2007–2008 Season

In 2007–2008 season, she competed for the first time at the 2007 Skate Canada International. She won the event ahead of Nakano, after being third in the short program and first in the long program. Asada won her second gold medal of the Grand Prix season and her second Trophée Eric Bompard gold at the 2007 Trophée Eric Bompard. She advanced to the 2007–2008 Grand Prix of Figure Skating Final. In the short program, Asada did not do the jump out of footwork required element and earned a score of 59.04 in that segment of the competition, placing last in that part of the competition. She won the free skate and won the silver medal overall behind Kim Yu-Na, who repeated as champion. Even with the large mistake in the short program, Asada was only 5.24 out of first place overall, and was 12.66 points ahead of bronze medalist Carolina Kostner.

As in the previous year, Asada won the 2007–2008 Japan Figure Skating Championships, with a very small lead ahead of silver medalist and reigning World Champion Miki Ando. The team of Asada, Ando, and Nakano was declared for the World Championships and the team of Asada, Ando, and Suguri was for the Four Continents Championships. This was Asada's first time competing at the Four Continents Championships. Asada won both segments of the 2008 Four Continents Figure Skating Championships to finish 13.71 points ahead of silver medalist Joannie Rochette. Having left her coach before Four Continents Championships, Asada competed there and at the World Championships without a coach. An official from the Japan Skating Federation accompanied her as needed.

On March 20, 2008, at the 2008 World Figure Skating Championships, Asada placed 2nd both in the short program and free skate to place first overall and win the title of World Champion. She was second in the short program with 64.10 points, 0.18 behind Carolina Kostner. In the long program, she fell at the beginning of her performance on her triple axel jump attempt, so that element was not taken on account in the technical pannel and she had only the compulsory 1.00 point deduction for the fall, earning 121.46 points. She scored a total of 185.56 points, 0.88 ahead of silver medalist Carolina Kostner. Yu-Na Kim, who won the free skate with 123.38 points, 1.92 ahead of Asada, won the bronze medal. Miki Ando withdrew from the competition in the middle of her free skate program with injury. The placements of Asada and Yukari Nakano, who placed fourth overall, qualified Japan three entries for the 2009 World Figure Skating Championships.

2008–2009 Season

Asada performs a spiral during her Claire de Lune short program at the 2008 Trophée Eric Bompard.

For the 2008–2009 Grand Prix, Asada had been assigned to the 2008 Trophée Eric Bompard and to the 2008 NHK Trophy. At the 2008 Trophée Eric Bompard, she placed second overall with a score of 167.59 points, 12.54 behind Joannie Rochette, whereas won gold at the 2008 NHK Trophy with 191.13 points, 23.49 more than Akiko Suzuki. That victory supposed her the qualification for the for the 2008–2009 Grand Prix Final.

At the 2008–2009 Grand Prix of Figure Skating Final, Asada placed second in the short program with a score of 65.39 points, behind Kim Yu-Na by a margin of 0.56. With 123.17 points after landing two clean triple axels for the first time in an ISU sanctioned event, one in combination with a double toe-loop, Asada won the free skate and the competition overall, scoring 188.55 points. Asada made history after her Grand Prix Final performance by becoming the first woman to land two triple axels in an ISU competition.

After her win at the Grand Prix Final, Asada defended her national championship title at the 2008–2009 Japan Figure Skating Championships. In her short program, Asada's second jump in a planned triple flip-triple loop combination was downgraded to a single loop. She received 65.20 points for her short program and placed second behind Yukari Nakano. Asada landed six triple jumps in her free skate program, but three of them were downgraded, including two triple axels which were judged to be under-rotated. She received 117.15 points for her free skate for a total of 182.45 points overall. Placing second both in the short program and in the free skate, Asada managed to gain enough points to win her third straight national championship.

Asada came into the 2009 Four Continents held in Vancouver, Canada as the defending champion. However, she had a short program placing sixth with only 57.86 points in comparison to the leader, Kim Yu-Na, who scored 72.24. Asada rebounded in the freeskate to win that portion of the event with 118.66. Her first triple axel attempt was popped into a single, but she successfully executed the second, garnering 8.80 points for the jump. She also completed a triple flip-double loop-double loop, a triple loop, and a triple flip-double loop. Her triple toe loop was downgraded to a double, but she finished the routine with a double axel and spins, spirals, and footwork. Asada placed third overall in the competition behind Joannie Rochette of Canada who won silver and Kim Yu-Na who won the gold.

Jumping technique

Asada performs her step sequence at the 2008 World Championships. This program was choreographed for her by Tatiana Tarasova, who began coaching her in the 2008 summer.

Asada landed her first triple axel jump at the age of 12, and she became the first lady to perform a triple-triple-triple (a triple flip, triple loop, triple toe loop) combination in national competition. At the age of 14, Asada landed a triple axel in her free skating program at the 2004 Junior Grand Prix Final, held in December 2004 at Helsinki (Finland), becoming the first junior girl to do one in an international event. She has since been known for her triple axel jumps.

Asada practices quadruple loops and toe loops, but has yet to land one cleanly. However, at 2008 NHK Trophy, she began to perform her lutz with no edge error from the technical caller.

Asada has had problems with the triple toe loop jump, and did not include Salchow jumps in her junior and senior career programs until 2008. She had stated previously that the Salchow was the first triple jump she had ever landed and that she did not have a problem landing it cleanly, but she was not comfortable using the jump in competition because it is one of her least favorite jumps. a triple flip-triple toe. In the 2006–2007 season she used the double axel-triple toe, while in the 2007–2008 season she performed the triple flip-triple toe again. In the 2008–2009 season she executed the triple axel-double toe in international competition, first getting full credit for it at the 2008-2009 Grand Prix of Figure Skating Final.

Coaching changes

Arutunian, Tarasova and Asada at the 2007-08 Grand Prix Final.

Asada originally trained in Japan, but left for the U.S. in August 2006 to train with Rafael Arutunian in Lake Arrowhead, California. There, she was able to escape the overcrowding of Japanese rinks and the pressure of the Japanese media.

Before 2008 Four Continents Championships, she split with Arutunian and returned to Japan to practice on the new Aurora Rink at Chukyo University, where she does not have any problems getting ice time. She went to Worlds without a coach.

Asada trained in Russia in the summer of 2007 under Tatiana Tarasova. She returned to Russia the following summer, after which Asada formally decided to be coached by Tarasova.

Public life and endorsements

Asada owns a miniature poodle] named Aero, who is named after the chocolate confection made by Nestlé. Asada and Aero have been featured in chocolate commercials in Japan, and she has also used her dog in exhibition programs. In 2008, Asada got two new puppies named Tiara and Komachi.

CD

• Mai & Mao Asada Skating Music（EMI Music Japan）
• Mai & Mao Asada Skating Music 2008-09（EMI Music Japan）

Book

• 浅田真央、15歳（Mao Asada, 15 -2006）- ISBN 9784163682303
• 浅田真央、16歳（Mao Asada, 16 -2007）- ISBN 9784163696409
• 浅田真央、17歳（Mao Asada, 17 -2008）- ISBN 9784163709208

Asada during her Por una Cabeza exhibition program at the 2008 Trophée Eric Bompard.

Competitive highlights

Asada (center) with other medalists at the 2008 NHK Trophy podium.

Post-2006

Event/Season	2006–2007	2007–2008	2008–2009
World Championships	2nd	1st	TBD
Four Continents champion		1st	3rd
Japanese Championships	1st	1st	1st
Grand Prix Final champion	2nd	2nd	1st
NHK Trophy	1st		1st
Trophée Eric Bompard		1st	2nd
Skate Canada		1st
Skate America	3rd

Pre-2006

Asada (center) with other medalists at the 2008 World Championships podium.

Event/Season	2002–2003	2003–2004	2004–2005	2005–2006
World Junior Championships			1st	2nd
Japanese Championships	7th	8th	2nd	2nd
Japanese Junior Championships	4th	4th	1st
Japanese Novice Championships	1st	1st
Grand Prix Final champion				1st
Trophée Eric Bompard				1st
Cup of China				2nd
2004 Junior Grand Prix Final			1st
2004 Junior Grand Prix Final			1st
2004 Junior Grand Prix Final			1st
Mladost Trophy		1st

External links

• Official Site