Olympic figure skating champion Kim Yu-na (File photo)
Olympic figure skating champion Kim Yu-na will enter a minor event in Croatia next month in her injury-ridden preparation for the upcoming Winter Games, her agency said Tuesday.
Kim will compete at the Golden Spin of Zagreb from Dec. 5-8 in Zagreb, Croatia, All That Sports said in a press release. It will be Kim’s first international competition of this season and could also be her last before the Sochi Winter Olympics next February.
Kim came down with a foot injury in September and was forced to withdraw from both of her International Skating Union Grand Prix events set for October and November.
While the injury appeared to derail her Olympic title defense, Kim said at a recent press conference that she is about “70 percent healthy” and she could enter a minor event in December.
According to All That Sports, Kim has been undergoing treatment and light training, and she is finally healthy enough to raise the intensity of her practices and get ready for live action.
Through her agency, Kim said her Olympic preparations will be back on track.
“I have recovered to a point where I began considering competing at an event before the Olympics,” she said. “I will prepare the best I can until the Olympics and bring home a good result.”
Kim has already said Sochi will be her last Olympics.
Kim won her first Olympic gold at the 2010 Vancouver Winter Games with a record score of 228.56 points under the new judging scale.
In Sochi, Kim will aim to become only the third woman to repeat as the Olympic gold medalist, after Sonja Henie of Norway won three straight from 1928 to 1936, and Katrina Witt of Germany won back-to-back titles in 1984 and 1988.
Kim also has two world titles to her credit, with her second coming at the 2013 world championships. It was her first world championship appearance since 2011.
Kim sat out the entire 2011-2012 season and ended her hiatus in December last year at a minor event called the NRW Trophy in Germany.
She won it handily and went on to dominate the South Korean national championship in January 2013, before capturing the world title two months later.
In Croatia, Kim will unveil her new programs for the first time. She will perform her short program to “Send in the Clowns,” a ballad composed by Stephen Sondehim for the 1973 musical, “A Little Night Music.” Her free skate will be choreographed to the tune of “Adios Nonino,” written by Argentine tango composer Astor Piazzolla in 1959. (Yonhap News)