Japan's Mai Mihara took the lead at the Four Continents Figure Skating Championships in Tallinn, Estonia, on Thursday after a stunning routine in the women's short program.
Mihara, who is seeking a second Four Continents gold, finished ahead of three South Koreans and set a new personal best score of 72.62 points with her performance to "I Dreamed a Dream" from the musical "Les Miserables."
South Korea's Lee Hae In, Kim Ye Lim and You Young finished second, third, and fourth, respectively.
"I'm really happy to improve my personal best. My goal is to deliver a perfect program in both the short and free. I'm aiming for the podium so I hope I can show my own style and build on that experience," Mihara said.
Mihara nailed her jumps and earned level fours on all her spins and step sequence, going 1.68 points better than her previous personal best.
The 22-year-old has a gold, silver and bronze from each of the last three Four Continents in 2017, 2018 and 2019. She sat out the 2019-2020 season recovering from health problems.
This year the event was moved to Estonia after China canceled the scheduled competition in Tianjin due to COVID-19.
