Kim Yu-na, Mao Asada Get Ready for New Season

Figure skating rivals Kim Yu-na of Korea and Mao Asada of Japan are each preparing in their different way for the 2009-2010 season that culminates in next year's Olympics.

Training in Toronto, Kim is keeping her short and free programs for the next season strictly confidential. IB Sports, Kim's management agency, said in a press release, "We are nearly done with the choice of music and choreography for the programs, but only coach Brian Orser, choreographer David Wilson, Kim and Kim's mother know about it."

Kim chose secrecy because she has been in under constant scrutiny since establishing herself as the queen of figure skating by winning the 2009 World Championship in March. "I want to use music with an electrifying and intense rhythm for the short program, and popular and familiar tunes for the free program," she said at the time.

Kim is reportedly happy with the selection. According to IB Sports, there may be some changes on the technical side, such as jump content, from last year. IB Sports said the new programs can be showcased in the first competition of the season, at the Trophée Eric Bompard, the first Grand Prix Series event, from Oct. 16 to 19 in Paris.

Kim will arrive in Korea around August 10 to take part in an ice show hosted by IB Sports from August 14 to 16 at the Olympic Park in Seoul.

But 2008 World Champion Mao Asada already announced new programs for the next season in Moscow, where she is training, last week. For the free program, Asada will skate to Prelude in C-Sharp Minor Op.3 no.2 "Bells of Moscow" by Rachmaninov. And she is re-using a selection from "Masquerade Suite" by Khachaturian from last year's free program for her new short program.

According to the Japanese press, the short program is flamboyant and the free program reflects Rachmaninov's unique sublimity, which makes his music so popular during the Olympic seasons. Asada took ballet lessons to improve her artistic expression and is to perform her new programs in the Japan Open in Saitama on Oct. 3, prior to the beginning of the Grand Prix Series.