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Akiko Suzuki leads heading into the ladies free skate at Four Continents. (Getty Images)

By Tatiana Flade, special to icenetwork.com

(01/27/2010) - The short program still remains a big hurdle for Mao Asada.

Asada cheated her triple Axel and singled a flip in the ladies short program on Wednesday at the Four Continents Figure Skating Championships. The mistakes placed her in third with 57.22 points.

Teammate Akiko Suzuki won the first portion of the ladies event with 58.88 points, and unexpectedly Amanda Dobbs edged out Asada for second place with 57.56 points.

Suzuki wasn't error-free. She singled her planned triple loop, a jump that she just recently had put into her program to "Andalucia." But, the Grand Prix Final bronze medalist picked up valuable points with her spins, steps and spirals. She even earned a Level 4 for the straight line step sequence, which has been rarely seen.

"I tried the loop out of steps for the first time [in the short program]," revealed Suzuki. "I did a single loop instead of a triple, so I'm not satisfied with my performance. But after the loop I changed my focus on the other things and I got high levels [for the other elements] which was good."

Dobbs didn't go for the more difficult jumps, but was rewarded for a clean program with a triple toe-double toe combination, a triple Salchow and difficult spins and spirals.

"I'm fairly happy with my skate. My program was very solid. It was good and strong. I did what I wanted to do and what I've been training for," the 16-year-old commented. "It's kind of exciting [to be in the top three], because I haven't really been out internationally in seniors. I just finished nationals and I competed in pairs and then in singles. It's really exciting to know that my trainings turned out well and that I'm getting good results. It's exciting to compete with Mao and Akiko. It's really cool being part of that group. I'm just kind of taking it in. It still hasn't sunk in," she continued.

Asada was very unhappy with herself for the downgraded Axel and the single flip.

"I am disappointed, because I couldn't do two of my highest scoring jumps. It's not good to make mistakes, but it's better that it happened now than at the Olympics," the Japanese Champion explained. "I'm really irritated about the errors."

Caroline Zhang finished fourth with 55.10 points. The technical panel downgraded her triple flip in combination with a double toe, and she wobbled on her trademark layback spin.

"I was slightly surprised by the downgrade. I expected a Level 3 on my spirals, I realized I didn't hold it long enough when I did it. But it's a pretty good performance overall," Zhang said. "Nationals was very disappointing. I was slightly surprised to be assigned to this [competition], so I hope that I can make the best out of the chance."

For the free skate on Friday, Zhang wants "just skate a steady performance and just have a good level for going into next season."

Haruka Imai of Japan came in fifth with a lively and clean Flamenco program (55.06 points). Alexe Gilles is in ninth place after falling on her triple Lutz, and just doing a double flip-double toe combination (48.90 points).