Olympic figure skating champion Kim Yu-na made a queenly return to the sport on Thursday by placing first in the short program of the 2013 World Championships in Canada.

Kim scored 36.79 technical points and 33.18 program component points to total 69.97 points at the event at Budweiser Gardens in London, Ontario.

Kim Yu-na waves to the audience after performing her short program at the 2013 World Championships at Budweiser Garden in London, Ontario, on Friday. /Newsis

Italy's Carolina Kostner finished second with 66.86 points, followed by Japan's Kanako Murakami with 66.64 points.

Kim's long-term rival Mao Asada of Japan won bonus points for her triple axel jump, but was shaky on spins and finished sixth place with 62.1 points.

"For now, I won’t think too much about the result in the free skate," Kim said. "I'm a human being too, so my dreams do get bigger. But I will go into the free skate without too much in my mind, and just want to show what I've practiced so far without mistakes."

The free skating event is on Saturday local time, with Kim performing last out of 24 figure skaters.