Japanese figure skaters Fumie Suguri, Miki Ando and Daisuke Takahashi left Japan for Turin on Sunday to test the ice at the venue for their competition in the upcoming Turin Winter Olympics.
The three skaters and former world champion Shizuka Arakawa, who will join them in Turin from her training base in the United States, begin training Monday at the Palavela skating arena a week after earning their places in the Feb. 10-26 Games.
"It doesn't feel like a new year at all after I had to go through all that stuff (in the qualifying process)," said Suguri, who got one of three spots for the women's event after winning her fifth national title on Dec. 25.
"I'm looking forward to getting the feel of the ice there and getting to know how it is to perform on it," she said.
Suguri, 25, will make her second straight Olympic appearance after finishing fifth in Salt Lake City in 2002. Ando will skate in her first Olympics, while Arakawa was selected for the first time in eight years.
Takahashi obtained a ticket to Turin following a heated battle with fellow teenager Nobunari Oda in the hunt for the one spot given to Japan for the men's competition.