MOSCOW — Miki Ando of Japan won the world figure skating championships after overcoming Olympic gold medalist Kim Yu-na in a duel of exceptional elegance on Saturday.
The victory by the Japanese skater, who also won at the 2007 worlds, was fitting in a competition that was originally set to take place in her homeland before it was hit by an earthquake and tsunami in late March.
"I was skating for Japan and I never cared about the result. I'm really happy to have a gold medal," Ando said. "I worked hard and I've become a little bit of a stronger skater than a year ago."
Both skaters' free programs contained languid moves interspersed with moments of power and steely control. They were within less than half a point of each other going into the free skate.
Ando, skating to Grieg's "Piano Concerto in A Minor," in the final group of six, opened with a triple lutz-double toe loop. She didn't falter until the middle of the program, when she stepped out of a double axel and reduced the planned combination triple toe to a double.
But she regained her poise, had three more solid triples and a double axel-double loop-double loop cascade so surprising that it drew gasps from the crowd.
Kim made her season debut after firing coach Brian Orser and moving her training base from Toronto to Los Angeles in the past year. She started even more boldly with a triple lutz-triple toe. Her program — "Homage to Korea" — set to a haunting collection of traditional Korean music and choreographed by Canadian David Wilson, was a crowd-pleaser at Megasport Arena.
But she quickly ran into trouble, singling two of her next three jumps. She also featured a cascade starting with a double axel, but one of the subsequent jumps was a toe loop instead of a loop, giving the element slightly less value.
"I'm just so glad that the competition is over," Kim said. "After the Olympics, I was thinking: 'Am I going to come back to competition or not?' ... Mentally I couldn't stop thinking: 'Why do I have to do this?' I think that was the hardest thing. But then I felt ready to go and I thought: 'I can do this.'"
Italy's Carolina Kostner improved from sixth place to take the bronze, with a charming program to the dreamy strains of Debussy's "Afternoon of a Faun," marred only by popping one triple.
"Last year it was a hard time for me, so it was a big emotion just to finally again just enjoy it," she said. "To be able to get a medal ... just makes it more special."
For the United States, Alissa Czisny finished fifth in the free skate and overall standings. American Rachael Flatt was 12th overall.
All of last year's champions entered this year, but with three disciplines completed, none of the defenders prevailed. Mao Asada of Japan finished sixth after an error-filled short program. Daisuke Takahashi finished sixth in the men's, overwhelmed in a field won by Canada's Patrick Chan, who set three world records in the process. Aliona Savchenko and Robin Szolkowy won the pairs, with 2010 champions Pang Qing and Tong Jian of China settling for bronze.
However, Tessa Virtue and Scott Moir of Canada were position to defend their ice dancing gold later Saturday, closely challenged by Meryl Davies and Charlie White of the United States.
Russian spectators longing for a return to the country's one-time eminence in women's skating had something to cheer and lament.
Alena Leonova, who had a disappointing performance at the Cup of Russia, nailed seven triples in her high-spirited free program to end in fourth place, less than a point behind Kostner. Ksenia Makarova, who had been third after the short program, finished seventh after a fall in a free program that was marred by other errors.
Associated Press writer David Nowak contributed to this report.