Olympic figure skating champion Yuna Kim is doing triple jumps in practice and may enter a competition in December.
Kim, 23, made the comments at a South Korean Olympic event marking 100 days out from the Opening Ceremony on Wednesday. In late September, it was announced she would miss around six weeks after a metatarsal injury to her right foot from training.
She withdrew from both of her Grand Prix assignments -- last week’s Skate Canada and Trophee Bombard in Paris in mid-November.
“I am mostly pain free, and I can do all the triple jumps,” Kim said, according to Yonhap News. “For competitions, I will also have to build endurance. Overall, I think I am about 70 percent healthy.
“I am thinking about getting into a competition before the Sochi Olympics. I think I may pick a minor event in December.”
Kim aims to become the first woman to defend an Olympic figure skating title since Katarina Witt in 1984 and 1988. She has said Sochi will be her last Olympics.
“The Sochi Games is not only my second Olympics but the ‘retirement stage’ for me, so I want to have a greater experience than any other competition before,” she said, according to Reuters. “In the past, I had strong concepts for short programs and lyrical ones for the long. But this time it’s the other way around.
“I have a fast tempo for the long program this time, which requires more physical strength. I will have to modify it some before Sochi, but my goal is to make it perfect before the Olympics.”
Kim would not assess rival Mao Asada -- “I am not a judge,” she said. Asada won Skate America two weeks ago with a score 14 points lower than Kim’s total to win the World Championships in March.
