Rochette's quest continues

Joannie Rochette has already conquered the improbable. Now she'll attempt to do what many believed was impossible.

Just two days after the sudden death of her mother, the 24-year-old Rochette delivered an emotional and technically sound skate on Tuesday, earning a personal-best score of 71.36 points in the short program at the Vancouver Olympics. She's in third place heading into Thursday's free skate (5 p.m. PT, 8 p.m. ET).

Making it through the short program with such grace and concentration was a feat in itself. Repeating that kind of performance in the free skate would be nothing short of remarkable — one for the history books.

Rochette of Île Dupas, Que., has shown that she doesn't back down in the face of adversity and she's as tough as nails.

"It was hard to handle, but I appreciate the support," Rochette said through Skate Canada after her short program.

"I think her mother's jumping up and down in the sky," Skate Canada CEO William Thompson said. "That was the dream performance."

If anybody had a free pass to withdraw from the competition or skate a subpar performance, it was Rochette, given what she's been through. Instead, she has risen to a higher level than before, with a realistic shot at winning a medal.

It would be Canada's first Olympic medal in women's figure skating since Elizabeth Manley won silver at the 1988 Calgary Games.

Of course, Rochette's performance in Vancouver has nothing to do with results. She said all along she was competing as a sign of tribute and respect for her mother, Thérèse.

It was her mother who first enrolled her in skating at the age of six, and she had been with her every step along the way — a storied career that includes six national titles, four Grand Prix victories and a world championship silver medal.

Whether an Olympic medal is added to that resumé will depend on how Rochette skates in her long program to music of Camille Saint-Saens's Samson and Delilah.

Rochette will skate second-last, but she's the final skater of anybody in the top five. She holds a 6.6-point advantage on Japan's Miki Ando, the 2007 world champion.

South Korea's Kim leads

Kim Yu-Na of South Korea, coached by former Canadian champion Brian Orser, leads the competition. She skated an out-of-this world performance in the short program, earning a record score of 78.50.

Japan's Mao Asada, one of the few women in the world who can land a triple Axel, is in second place with 73.86 points.

"Usually, I think, there's like a 10-point difference," Asada said. "So I feel good there's only this difference between myself and Yu-Na."

Kim, who is facing huge pressure from her home country where she is a major celebrity, didn't land a triple Axel, but her short program did feature a triple Lutz/triple toe loop combination and a triple flip.

Kim hasn't lost since the 2009 Grand Prix final, when Asada beat her.

The other Canadian in the field, Cynthia Phaneuf, 22, of Contrecoeur, Que., is well back in 14th place with 57.16 points. Phaneuf nailed her jumps in the short program but fell on a step sequence.

The United States has made it to the podium in every women's competition since 1968, and two Americans — U.S. national champion Rachael Flatt in fifth, and Mirai Nagasu in sixth — remain in contention.

But all eyes, no doubt, will be focused on Rochette.

"Despite everything that's gone on, she's just seven points out of first place and, in any circumstance, this would have been where she wants to be," Skate Canada high-performance director Mike Slipchuk told Reuters news agency.

"What she did was truly remarkable and it's going to be an exciting and emotional evening [in the free skate]."