Miki Ando breaks 200pt barrier, wins 4CC gold.

Miki Ando went out there and hit everything in a technically packed programme to win Four Continents gold. Silver went to a virtuoso effort from Mao Asada and bronze to Mirai Nagasu.

If you were following my live blogging on twitter you would see I was slightly miffed by the result. All credit to Miki but she goes out there and skates business-like. Everything is 'good' but little is 'special'. But hitting a clean program with 6 triples is an achievment however you look at it. Miki scored personal bests of 134.76 in the free and 201.34 overall.

Another person who hit a personal best was Mirai Nagasu. Without the pressure of being in first she came out and hit every jump and every spin, earning a standing ovation and a free-skate score of 129.68. Whilst I would not condone US figure skating changing their Worlds lineup- it seems such a shame not to send her. I can't see Rachael Flatt winning a world title but I can see Mirai doing so.

Flatt and Czisny placed 4th and 5th respectively with Canada's Cynthia Phaneuf finishing 6th. Czisny fell on her 2nd jump (a 3 Flip) whilst she didn't dissolve into her previous Czisny form, the rest of the programme was a struggle and not the form that won her the GP final and national title. Phaneuf too was not perfect but at least finished with a smile and looks to be building to Worlds.

Mao was last on the ice and after Miki's score we (and maybe she) knew she would have to bring her A game. She hit a beautiful clean triple axel but chose not to risk it with another one. She hit 7 triples (with one called up for under-rotation). It was great to see a smile on the reigning olympic silver medallist's face again. Like I wrote on twitter, I would have given her the gold. But I'm not an ISU judge.

FPl.	Name	Nation	Points	SP	FS
1	Miki ANDO	JPN	201.34	1	1
2	Mao ASADA	JPN	196.30	2	2
3	Mirai NAGASU	USA	189.46	4	3
4	Rachael FLATT	USA	180.31	3	4
5	Alissa CZISNY	USA	168.81	5	5
6	Cynthia PHANEUF	CAN	163.14	7	6
7	Akiko SUZUKI	JPN	162.59	6	7
8	Min-Jeong KWAK	KOR	147.15	8	8
9	Amelie LACOSTE	CAN	137.48	9	9
10	Cheltzie LEE	AUS	127.90	10	10
11	Myriane SAMSON	CAN	121.20	11	11
12	Yea-Ji YUN	KOR	111.86	12	12
13	Bingwa GENG	CHN	104.58	13	16
14	Qiuying ZHU	CHN	102.38	16	15
15	Lejeanne MARAIS	RSA	101.90	19	13
16	Chae-Hwa KIM	KOR	101.79	17	14
17	Victoria MUNIZ	PUR	99.40	15	17
18	Melinda WANG	TPE	96.15	14	18
19	Mimi Tanasorn CHINDASOOK	THA	91.54	18	20
20	Jaimee NOBBS	AUS	89.93	20	19
21	Crystal KIANG	TPE	86.60	21	21
22	Mericien VENZON	PHI	84.17	22	22
23	Melanie SWANG	THA	82.08	23	23
24	Chaochih LIU	TPE	78.28	24	24