SAITAMA, Japan, March 20 (Xinhua) -- Japanese gold medal hopeful Rika Kihira finished seventh and Alina Zagitova won the short program at the ISU Figure Skating World Championships here on Wednesday.

Zagitova delivered a clean program with her season best 82.08 points, while Kaori Sakamoto came second with 76.86 points. Kazakhstan's Elizabet Tursynbaeva was third with 75.96 points. China's Chen Hongyi ranked 15th with 58.53 points, and also qualified for the free program.

"I am quite satisfied about my program today. The Japanese audience is always very welcoming - any time I get to perform here, I'm very happy. I want to make sure I can do the very best possible in the free skate," said Zagitova, winner of the 2018 Pyeongchang Games.

Pyeongchang runner-up Evgenia Medvedeva took fourth with 74.23 points.

Sakamoto, fourth at the Four Continents Figure Skating Championships this season, was also happy with her result: "Today was my season's best skate, so I feel that I was victorious over myself."

Kihira, who won the Grand Prix Final and Four Continents this season, failed in her triple Axel at the beginning of her SP, and only got 70.90 points to settle for the seventh.

China's Chen, 16, performed first in the short program and made a good debut at the Worlds.

"It is my first senior world championships," said Chen, who just took a 19th finish at the junior world championships earlier this month. "After a lot of competitions, I am more mature and I am not as nervous as I used to be."

"I skated well today," she added. "I hope I can perform my normal level at the free program."

The ladies free program will be held on Friday. Enditem

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