Joannie Rochette performs in Saturday's free skate. (Toshifumi Kitamura/AFP/Getty Images)Asian skaters swept the women's podium at the ISU Grand Prix final in Tokyo, while Canadian Joannie Rochette finished out of the medals after a disappointing free skate on Saturday.
World champion Kim Yu-Na of South Korea captured her third Grand Prix title in four years, earning the top score in the free skate to rally from second spot and finish with 188.86 points.
That was just enough to overtake short-program leader Miki Ando of Japan, who dropped to second with 185.94 points. Teammate Akiko Suzuki moved up from fifth to third with 174.
"I'm still not completely satisfied my performance," said Kim, who landed four triple jumps. "My jumps weren't perfect, but I will use the experience I gained here to build for the future."
Rochette, who was fourth after the short program, wound up fifth at 156.71 in the competition for the top six skaters in the regular-season Grand Prix standings.
The native of l'Île Dupas, Que., who called the free skate her "worst performance in a long time," will turn her attention to the Canadian figure skating championships, which start Jan. 11 in London, Ont. That competition determines who represents Canada at the Vancouver Olympics in February.
"I need to go home and start to train as if it were the early season again," Rochette, a silver medallist at the last world championships, told reporters on a conference call.
"I know I can turn this around."
American Ashley Wagner moved up from last place to fourth. Russia's Alena Leonova, who held the final podium position after the short program, dropped all the way down to sixth.
With files from The Associated Press
