Mao Asada narrowly leads Ashley Wagner after short program in Grand Prix Final

SOCHI, Russia – Mao Asada took the lead with an exuberant short program Friday at the Grand Prix Final, putting her a half-point ahead of American rival Ashley Wagner.

Asada opened her program to variations on “I Got Rhythm” with a strong double axel, followed soon by a fast triple flip-double loop.

The program was designed to “invigorate everybody who sees it, including me,” Asada said. “I’m always skating it with a smile on my face.”

Wagner opened with a big triple flip, followed in combination with a double toeloop. Like Asada, she didn’t try a triple-triple combination, saying her execution of it has been sporadic.

“I prefer to go out on the ice and perform a program I’m 100 per cent confident with,” Wagner said. “It’s almost better to skate a clean, lower-risk short program.”

Asada was only 0.07 points ahead of Wagner on technical elements and 0.45 on program components.

Other skaters wanted to do triple-triples, but only third-place Akiko Suzuki fully succeeded, remaining in contention for gold less than two points behind Asada.

Kiira Korpi of Finland under-rotated the second half of her combination and ended in fourth. Elizaveta Tuktamysheva of Russia doubled her second triple, placing fifth, and Christina Gao of the United States fell on the opening jump of hers.

The competition is a test event for the Iceberg Arena, which will host figure skating and short-track speedskating at the 2014 Olympics.