Japanese figure skating star Mao Asada, the 2008 and 2010 world champion, said Sunday she would retire from competition after next year's Sochi Winter Olympic Games.

"At the moment, that is what I intend to do," Asada, the runner-up to South Korea's Kim Yu-na in their Olympic debut at the 2010 Vancouver Winter Olympic Games, told reporters.

Asada, the only woman who regularly attempts the demanding 3.5-revolution triple axel at world-class events, stunned the figure skating world when she won the 2005 Grand Prix Final at 15. At the Vancouver Winter Olympic Games, she became the first woman to land three triple axel jumps in a competition - one in the short program and two in the free skate.

Agencies - Global Times