The final competitive stop before the Olympic Games is the ISU Four Continents Championships, which wrapped up in Jeonju, Korea over the weekend.

With the majority of Olympians from skating nations like Canada and the US not participating, there was some thought that the competition would be lackluster.

Nothing could have been further from the truth.

Japan's Mao Asada, the 2008 world champion, took the title here, but it wasn't a walk in the park.

Overcoming a third place finish in the short program, she adopted a "take no prisoners" attitude in the free. For the first time, she skated her Bells of Moscow program in a way that was both compelling and thrilling to watch.

Aside from the two triple Axels and four triple jumps, there was a depth to her expression that indicated an almost overnight arrival into maturity.

Teammate, Akiko Suzuki took the lead in the short program and was strong - but not strong enough in the free, settling for the silver.  Caroline Zhang of the United States was sophisticated and polished and captured the bronze.

The 2006 Olympic silver pair medallists from China, Dan Zhang and Hao Zhang had to make some changes if they were going to have any chance at a medal in Vancouver.

They decided to go back to their short program from two years ago and wanted one more competitive outing before the Games.

The gamble has paid off. They easily took the title here and seem to be back on track for Vancouver.

Americans Keauna McLaughlin and Rockne Brubaker seemed destined for the Olympic Games but a disappointing fifth place finish at Nationals stood in their way.

Coming to Korea proved to be the antidote and they took the silver medal by showing the kind of speed and strength for which they are known.

Canadian national bronze medallists, Meagan Duhamel and Craig Buntin may have been in the same boat. They turned to what they do best, skating their way to a bronze medal looking relaxed and confident.

In ice dance, Canada's national bronze medallists, Kaitlyn Weaver and Andrew Poje dominated the competition from the start and won all three segments of the ice dance competition before taking the title.

Their Phantom of the Opera free dance at the start of the season was already a beautiful piece that has grown into something much more theatrical and compelling.

Fellow Canadians Alli Hann-McCurdy and Michael Coreno were in third after the compulsory dance but after strong original and free dance performances they were able to climb into second for the silver medal.

The brother and sister team of Madison and Keiffer Hubbell from the United States brought a fresh feel to the free dance by skating to rock music and took the bronze.

The men's event closed out the championships and it was a competition well worth waiting for.

Taking the lead with an impressive score of 81.60 was Canada's national bronze medallist, Kevin Reynolds, whose short program included a quad/triple combination and a triple Axel.

Faltering somewhat in the free, he had to settle for the bronze medal after American Adam Rippon executed the skate of the night-- perhaps even the event. He was able to move from seventh place after the short program to take the gold

In another dazzling performance, relative newcomer to the senior ranks Tatsuki Machida of Japan made the leap from sixth place after the short to take the silver.