Figure skating-American Liu dazzles in short programme at world championships

(Reuters) -American Alysa Liu produced the best performance of her career to lead the women's field after the short programme at the World Figure Skating Championships on Wednesday, as the sport's biggest event ahead of the 2026 Olympics kicked off in Boston.

Liu won bronze at the championships three years ago but has her eye on the top of the podium this time around after judges rewarded her with a career-best score of 74.58 to lead Japan's Mone Chiba (73.44) ahead of Friday's free skate.

American Isabeau Levito was third with 73.33.

Liu brought the house down with a blockbuster routine that included a triple flip-triple toe loop combination and a pristine triple Lutz and the American flags were waving wildly as she took a bow.

Chiba made her complex choreography look easy as she opened with a superb triple Lutz-triple toe combination and won the crowd over with a high-flying triple flip, earning a standing ovation.

The women's short programme kicked off the action at TD Garden, as the home of Boston's bone-crunching ice hockey Bruins played host to skating's graceful artists less than a year before the Milano-Cortina Winter Olympics.

The championships determine how many spots in each discipline a country will have at the Games.

A handful of favourites navigated missteps in the early action, including Japan's Kaori Sakamoto (71.03), who is bidding for a rare fourth consecutive title.

A popped jump for a double flip-triple toe loop combination marred an otherwise fine effort from the Olympic bronze medallist and she finished fifth in the standings.

American Amber Glenn (67.65), another favourite after going unbeaten this season, also struggled as she fell on her opening triple axel.

She recovered almost immediately, however, to nail the rest of her programme with a triple flip-triple toe combination and advance ninth in the standings with a score of 67.65.

'A LITTLE OFF'

The Japanese duo of Riku Miura and Ryuichi Kihara delivered an energetic performance to grab the lead in the pairs short programme ahead of Thursday's free skate.

Leading off the final group and skating to the Rolling Stones' "Paint it Black," the 2023 world champions executed a triple twist lift and followed it up with a flawless throw jump, triple Lutz, to earn a 76.57.

"This season it has been very hard for us to enjoy ourselves and perform at the same time," Kihara said at a press conference through an interpreter, according to Olympics.com.

"So we're really glad that we were able to perform well while having a good time as well."

Italy's Sara Conti and Niccolo Macii took second with 74.61 while European champions Minerva Fabienne Hase and Nikita Volodin of Germany were third with 73.59.

There is work to do for defending champions Deanna Stellato-Dudek and Maxime Deschamps of Canada after a series of uncharacteristic errors landed them in seventh place with a score of 67.32.

"It just felt a little off, but not like that bad?" Stellato-Dudek said.

"But that's enough, everything's pretty tight here so you have to be on your game."

Prior to the pairs short programme, a tribute was held to remember the victims of the American Airlines plane crash that killed 64 people, including 28 connected to the sport.

Several young Olympic hopefuls as well as coaches, athletes and their relatives were among those lost in the January crash.

(Reporting by Amy Tennery in New York and Rory Carroll in Los Angeles; Editing by Toby Davis, Peter Rutherford)