Miriam Manzano has qualified into the second round Short Program at the 2004 World Figure Skating Championships.

Manzano opened her program strongly with a triple Lutz, double toe combination, but singled the planned triple flip which followed. The Australian Ladies Champion worked hard throughout the program and finished in 12 place in her qualifying round. She is tied for 23rd place going into the Short Program tonight (Thursday 25th AEST).

Leading the field and winner of the first of the two qualifying groups is Sasha Cohen from the United States, whose flawless program received scores of 5.8 and 5.9 from the 10 judges. In the second qualifying round, it was a case of one-two to Japan, with Shizuka Arakawa overcoming a slow start to bring the crowd alive with her exciting routine. Miki Ando was second. Ando skated a great program and attempted a quadruple salchow, but fell on the landing.

Defending champion Michelle Kwan of the United States finished third in her group. (Story courtesy Michael Santer OzSkater magazine)