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GOTEBORG, Sweden (AP) — Mao Asada’s opening move was heart-stopping — and not in a good way.

As she went to take off for a triple axel, a jump so hard few women even try it, she slipped and slid across the ice.

“I was surprised myself,” Asada said.

But the two-time Japanese champion rebounded with a huge triple flip-triple toe loop combination, righting her long-program fortunes and capturing the gold medal at the World Figure Skating Championships on Thursday. She finished with 185.56 points, winning by almost a point.

“I learned that I still can make up for the mistake if the other elements are good,” Asada said. “Never give up. That’s what I learned this year.”

Two-time European champion Carolina Kostner of Italy won the silver (184.68 points) and South Korea’s Kim Yu-na finished third (183.23).

Asada’s was by far the most spectacular fall of the evening, with the crowd of 9,431 groaning in unison. But it was not the only one.

All three Americans fell at least once — and their stumbles mean the United States will only be able to send two women to next year’s all-important world championships in Los Angeles. Results at the 2009 world championships determine how many spots countries get for the Vancouver Olympics.

The two best Americans needed to have a combined placement of 13 — fifth and eighth, say — to keep three spots at the 2009 worlds. But former world champion Kimmie Meissner was seventh, Bebe Liang was 10th and Ashley Wagner was 16th. That leaves no leeway for next year, with both U.S. skaters having to finish with the combined 13 to earn back a third spot for Vancouver.

It was hardly the result Meissner wanted after she shook up her training following a dismal showing at the U.S. championships. Meissner dropped longtime coach Pam Gregory and moved to Florida to train with Richard Callaghan, who coached Tara Lipinski to Olympic gold.

But Meissner fell twice, once on a salchow and once on a lutz, and finished more than 33 points behind Kim.

“I just want to do great. I did OK,” Meissner said.

As expected, the Asian women dominated this year in Goteborg, taking three of the top four positions. And, for the second year in a row, the bronze went to Kim.

The Grand Prix final winner had been shaken by a hip injury that kept her out of a competition last month, but she showed no signs of the lack of confidence she’d been confessing all week. Hers was the best long program of the bunch, with mesmerizing spins that defy both gravity and description as she appeared to lean both sideways and upwards at once.

“I thought I might have to give up,” Kim said, referring to how she felt after her fifth-place finish in the short.

Instead, she took the pressure off by treating the long program as a practice. “Considering my bad condition, I think a bronze is not a bad result,” Kim said.

Kostner came into the night with the slightest of leads after edging Asada in the short program, but lost it with a couple of shaky landings. While her long, lean figure — increasingly rare in an era of tiny teen-agers — is best suited to classical programs like her free skate, it was with her edgy modern short program that she seemed most sure of herself.

“Going into my program, I felt this responsibility that I actually have never felt before,” Kostner said. “I’m a little bit angry about the landings, they could have been better. But I had a lot of fun and that’s what matters most, right?”

It was certainly better than Miki Ando’s heartbreak.

Last year’s world champion withdrew two elements into her program after missing a combination and falling on a triple lutz. Cameras showed tears streaming down her face as she made the decision to quit. Ando said she decided to try to compete despite muscle strain on her left leg.

“Even if I didn’t win, it was important for me to try,” Ando said.

In ice dance, France’s Isabelle Delobel and Olivier Schoenfelder are in good position to make their first world medal a gold one. With 107.98 points going into Friday’s free dance, they have a four-point lead and Olympic silver medalists Tanith Belbin and Benjamin Agosto are still stuck in fifth place.

Jana Khokhlova and Sergei Novitski of Russia are now second, passing Canadians Tessa Virtue and Scott Moir in the original dance. But the margin between the two couples is slim, with the Russians just .45 points ahead: 103.97 to 103.52.

Belbin and Agosto came into worlds favored to become the first U.S. couple to win a world dance title. But a rare fall in compulsories dropped them to fifth place and, despite finishing fourth in the original dance, they weren’t able to make up any ground in the standings.

“This is the first time we’ve gone in hearing that perhaps we were one of the favorites for a title. That’s a lot of pressure to carry,” Belbin said. “I think I just had to put that out of my mind and realize that we can still gain a lot from this event — good or bad.”

The Americans did an energetic hoe down number, winning top levels for their elements across the board and raising the composite score to 99.71. The couple said they have been playing with elements to make it faster — and now just need to be careful not to overdo it in an attempt to make up lost ground.

“The elements are smooth. … We nailed the twizzle and we nailed the turns,” said Agosto, who jazzed up his costume with a pair of rodeo chaps over his jeans and fringe on his shirt. “It’s definitely my favorite.”