1.  Jenna McCorkell was over the moon to finish in top place in this qualifier with a score of 95.63 (49.58+46.05). That was a clear 3.11 marks ahead of the second placed Elena Glebova.  Thirty three hopefuls competed with only the top 12 making it through to the Short Program.

This summer, she took a new coach, Simon Briggs, and moved to a his training site in Dundee, a historic city in Scotland close to the world famous St. Andrews golf course. (Of course, she is constantly traveling back and forth to her husband, Kevin van der Perren and their home in Belgium.)

Briggs has obviously breathed new life and enthusiasm into his new protégé. McCorkell, who was born and raised in Northern Ireland, won her first national senior title in the 2003 season and made a promising world debut as a teenager in the Washington DC Worlds. But she missed the 2006 and 2007 seasons due to a back injury.

Although she has never been beaten at home since before the ’03 season, she has struggled to show her true potential. Her best place at Worlds was 14^th in the 2010 Worlds which was right after she had an atrocious showing in the Olympics. Last year in the Moscow worlds, she was only 24^th.  

On Tuesday, skating 32^nd, when the judges, who included American Joe Inman, must have been exhausted from watching five hours and ten minutes of strained skating and multiple falls, McCorkell seemed to float over the ice surface. Right from her opening moves, triple Lutz (+0.80 GoE), triple flip (+1.00), triple toe to double toe (+0.40) and Level 3 Layback spin (a move she has trouble with because of her back), she just looked comfortable on the ice.

She did have two moments of uncertainty when her triple Salchow turned into a high double, and, later on her final jumping pass, she put her hand on the ice on the triple toe. She said, all smiles, “I'm really pleased to show almost all I can do and am happy to qualify. I credit my coach, Simon Briggs, for turning me around mentally here. Now I just want to skate to my ability well enough to make myself and my team proud.”

She performed to Where Have All the Flowers Gone? “I skated to this music when I was 11 years old in a little white dress. My choreographer then was Lorna Brown, and I went back to her to choreograph this program. I've come full circle choosing to skate it today. I know that Katarina Witt skated to this music.”

That was when the twice East German Olympic champion (1984 and 1988) made her comeback for the 1994 Olympics. At that time Sarajevo, where she had won her first Olympic gold, was a wore-torn ruin, and she skated the piece as a tribute to happier times.

2.  Elena Glebova, the 22-year-old from Tallinn, the capital of Estonia, won her first national title back in the 2004. She earned 85.09 (49.32+43.20) in Nice. This season she won nationals for the sixth time but she still had to have a skate-off with her leading rival for the one place on the world team before this event. She said, “It was explained to me at the beginning of the season, that if I make it to the top 10 in the European Championship, I will go to Worlds. But I was 11^th. I respect that decision and it was not a problem for me to have a skate-off, and then it was decided I would come here.

“I am very satisfied. The first mark is very high, but the second is not as good. But, I understand, that it's just a qualifying round. It should be higher in the final. As for my performance, it was good, I enjoyed my skating. All the trainings went smoothly for me.” She performed to Spartacus and had three major errors. Her first jump, an attempted triple Lutz was given an “e” for wrong edge take-off. She singled the first jump of her intended double Axel to triple toe loop combination, and her first intended triple Salchow turned into a bad double.

3.  Sonia Lafuente, 20, scored 91.84 (48.34+43.50). She was born in the Canary Islands, although her family subsequently moved to Madrid, is the Spanish senior champion, an event she won in 2006 but did not enter again until she won again this season. She performed to a selection of music by Michael Nyman. She opened with a +0.60 triple flip, a +0.50 triple loop to double toe, and +0.10 triple toe, a Level 3 flying camel combination spin and a second triple loop which the judges rewarded with an extra +0.50 over its base value. At the point when the bonus marks click in, she executed a slightly faulty double Axel to double toe loop followed by a combination of two double toes that was planned as a single triple toe loop. She later did a better double Axel.

She said, “It was really great, better than I was expecting because my warm-up wasn't the best.  It's just the qualifying and only now (after the qualifier) does the competition really start. I was very happy because it was my best (free skate) score of the season. Last year (at Worlds) I fell on the loop in the short program and didn't qualify for the free skating. This year I will try to be in the final and in the first 18 so next year I don't have to do qualifying.”

4.  Valentina Marchei, 25, has won her national title four times, 2004, 2008, 2010 and 2012. However, she has only been to Worlds three times, in 2006, 2007 & 2008, placing 23^rd, 11^th and 6^th respectively. She has entered the European championships more often, and was 8^th in that event this year. She had retired at one point but has decided to make a comeback and is now training at the Detroit FS. Her score was 88.92 (41.21+47.71).

She performed to music from Big Bad Voodoo Daddy and Who Framed Roger Rabbit, beginning with a +0.40 triple Lutz to double toe. However, her second jump, a planned triple flip, was doubled and saddled with an “e” for wrong edge take-off. The triple Salchow which followed was given an arrow for slight under-rotation. Her change foot combination spin was the maximum Level 4 with +0.14. Her other two spins and her steps were Level 3 with positive GoEs. She brought off a triple toe and a double Axel to double toe. However, her planned attempt at a second triple Lutz and triple Salchow were both doubled.

She said, “The second Lutz was planned as a double to save energy. Still I wanted to do a triple after doubling the Flip, but I was looking at my coach (Jason Dunghen) and I heard him saying 'double'. Following the Challenge Cup (in The Hague) we were jet lagged for a week (because they traveled back from Europe to Detroit). But our training was intense, because once you get here you only have 35 minutes practice (on the ice). It is a long week and you cannot stay focused all the time.”

5.  Kerstin Frank, 23, finally won the Austrian national title this season in her seventh attempt. She has been to worlds twice before placing 23^rd & 30^th in 2009 & 2010. Skating to a selection of movie music, she earned 85.09 (46.47+38.62). She said, “I felt great out there, because the crowd was so supportive, they pushed me through each element. You feel that as a skater. It was quite hot out there in the rink. My preparation for Worlds went well at home in Vienna and also with the (recent) Challenge Cup in The Hague where I finished fifth.” All three spins were the maximum Level 4, and her straight line steps were Level 3.

6.  Romy Buehler is the 17-.year-old Swiss champion from Zurich. This is her first world championship. She earned 81.74 (42.23+40.51 -1). Buehler made her European championship debut when the event was in her home town last season, placing 16^th. This year, in Sheffield, she finished 20^th. She changed coaches before this season, and Sarah Meier’s mentor, Eva Fehr is now guiding her. She said it has been a very long season because she began with the Junior Grand Prix events in Milan and Brasov.

She skated to music from The Gypsy Baron, an operetta by Johann Strauss. She messed up her opening triple Lutz, falling and getting an arrow for slight under-rotation. Then after her triple Salchow, she executed only a single loop. However, she accomplished a +0.60 triple toe to double toe to double loop combination and a +0.43 double Axel and later a second double Axel, this one combined with a double toe. She finished with a Level 4 change foot combination spin. She told the Swiss press that when she finished she wasn’t sure that she would qualify because she had made mistakes. When she discovered she was sixth, she was delighted.

7.  Polina Korobeynikovafrom Russia, turns 16 on April 12. She won bronze in the Junior Grand Prix this season in Quebec City, and finished fourth in the European championships in January. The youngster is in Nice without her principal coach, Viktoria Volchkova, who has just had a baby. She earned 81.70 (37.47+44.23) which was only 0.04 behind Buehler. Her music was Otonal, made famous by Maria Butryskaya when she dethroned Michelle Kwan in 1999.

The talented youngster began with a triple flip to triple toe but the flip got an “e” for wrong edge takeoff. She was so pleased she had landed that move, she seemed to forget she still had the rest of the program to do. She doubled her Lutz and the second flip, did a double Axel to single toe, and then a single loop. She did pull herself together to execute a triple Salchow to double but then go no credit at all for a double Axel to double toe or for the choreographed steps. Her layback was a nice Level 4. Her straight line steps received Level 3 and her final combination spin and impressive Level 3 but undoubtedly this was a disappointing performance for a talent as substantial as hers.She said, “My legs were tired after the first combination. I wasn't able to give a 100 percent today. I didn't feel especially nervous. I wanted to show all the elements and I wasn't planning a toned-down version of the program. I don't think that my coach not being here affected me. I know what I have to do. I will draw my conclusions from this performance and then forget about it. I lost marks because I didn’t realize I was doing a fourth combination (which is not allowed) until now.”

8.  Natalia Popova, 18, is the twice Ukrainian champion who 18^th in the 2010 European championships and 12^th this year. She trains with Galina Zmievskaia in the United States. First of all, I am very happy to be here. Several days ago I had a back injury, so it was more difficult to get prepared, to train. So I am happy I was able to perform here. Of course, the performance (set to the French music Sur les Ailes du Temps by Saint-Preux) wasn't good at all. It was difficult to skate, but the main goal was to get through to the short program and so I did. Now I want to get into free skating with a good result.” She earned 77.57 (38.62+39.95 -1).

9.  Victoria Muniz is a 23-year-old who represents Puerto Rico but lives in Los Angeles. She is trained by Charlene Wong, Alex Chang and Sondra Holmes. Performing to Rimski-Korsakov’s Sherherazade, she earned 75.06 (38.44+36.62).

10.  Alina Fjordorova is a 16-year-old from Riga, the capital of Latvia, who skated to New York, New York by Fred Ebb. In her first European championship in January, she finished 16^th. Her score in Nice was 73.64 (38.97+36.67 -2).

11.  Clara Peters, a 20-year-old from Dublin, who, in 2009, became the first skater ever to represent Ireland, is studying in the United States and is trained by Ron and Karen Ludington. (Note Jenna McCorkell is from Northern Ireland which is a part of the United Kingdom and not a part of Ireland which is a separate country). Although she does not have a triple jump, she performed an absolutely delightful routine to Rachmaninov’s Rhapsody on a Theme by Paganini. She earned 73.36 (37.99+35.37), which was only 0.28 behind tenth place. In her fourth European championship in January, she finished 28^th.

12.  Lejeanne Marais is a 22-year-old from Benoni in South Africa. She scored 70.50 (36.78+33.72) for skating to the soundtrack of The Holiday, to get the last qualifying place.  

The top two non-qualifiers in the 33-strong field were Melinda Wang who represents Taipei, and Reyna Hamui of Mexico.

 Wang scored 70.43 (36.79+34.64 -1). Had Wang not fallen, she would have made it through. Hamui, who trains in the US with Priscilla Hill, scored 69.84 (36.84+34.00 -1).