China's An Xiangyi ranks 6th at figure skating junior worlds

BEIJING, March 4 (Xinhua) -- China's figure skating rising star An Xiangyi finished sixth after the women's free skate in the Junior World Championships on Friday in Calgary, Canada.

Dancing to "The theory of everything", An landed a triple flip triple toeloop combination, a double Axel, and several other triple jumps as well as level four spins. She earned 120.03 in the free skate and a total of 183.94 to rank sixth.

"It was beyond my expectation," said An, 16, national champion of the season. "My aim was to enter the free skate when I arrived."

ISU Junior Grand Prix Final champion Shimada Mao of Japan struck gold with a spectacular performance and more than 20 points to spare. The 14-year-old set a new personal best of 152.76 points and racked up 224.54 points to win the title - 18 years after her idol Asada Mao, whom she was named after, won the World Junior title in Canada as well.

South Korea's Shin Jia took the silver, while Nakai Ami of Japan got the bronze.

Also on Friday, Katarina Mrazkova/Daniel Mrazek from the Czech Republic danced to the first position in the rhythm dance with 71.19, followed by South Korea's Lim Hannah/Quan Ye and Phebe Bekker/James Hernandez of Britain.

China's young pair Li Xuantong/Wang Xinkang ranked 22nd and missed the free dance.