Sports

Kao Miura Sits in First Place After Short Program at World Junior Championships

Title favorite Kao Miura delivers a strong performance highlighted by incredible speed in a fine show skating to "Michelangelo 70" and "La Muerte del Angel."

Published

1 year ago

March 3, 2023

Jack Gallagher

Kao Miura competes in the men's short program at the World Junior Figure Skating Championships on March 2 in Calgary. (KYODO)

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CALGARY, Canada ― Kao Miura rocketed into the lead at the World Junior Championships on Thursday, March 2 with a powerful performance in the short program at WinSport Arena.

The 17-year-old showed his determination from the outset and will take an advantage of more than four points into the free skate on Saturday.

Miura's score in first place is 85.11 points, ahead of Canada's Wesley Chiu, who is a surprise in second at 80.56. Switzerland's Naoki Rossi is third with 79.46.

Lucas Broussard of the United States is fourth on 77.01, while Nozomu Yoshioka is in seventh after posting a personal best of 76.44 in the Canadian province of Alberta.

The results put Japan in a good position to secure three places at next year's world juniors in Taipei. Miura and Yoshioka need to finish a combined 13th or better in the final standings to clinch the spots.

Miura skated to "Michelangelo 70" and "La Muerte del Angel" and put on a fine show highlighted by incredible speed. He opened with a triple loop, then hit a big triple axel, and went on to land a triple flip/triple toe combination jump, making a nice save on the landing on the back end of it.

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Author: Jack Gallagher

The author is a veteran sports journalist and one of the world's foremost figure skating experts. Find articles and podcasts by Jack on his author page, and find him on Twitter @sportsjapan.