After winning her third World Championship last year, it appeared as if the skating world would be seeing the last of Mao Asada on the ice. After all, the number of ladies who have won three World Championships is very small, and she broke the record held by Yuna Kim for the highest score in a short program in World Championship history.

Still, Asada's work is not yet complete.

After taking a season off to focus on her studies and to rest, Asada has officially entered the Grand Prix series, being assigned to the Cup of China and the NHK Trophy in her home country of Japan. 

How close was Asada to retiring? In her words, it was "50/50".

"If I was not seriously considering retirement, I would not have taken the plunge and taken time off," Asada said in an interview with The Asahi Shimbum.

Asada, who won the silver medal in the 2010 Winter Olympics in Vancouver, is only 24 years old, so making another run towards the Olympics is not out of the question. The one thing missing from Asada's resume is an Olympic gold medal. 

That being said, this is still a young person's sport, a fact Asada fully understands.

I did not feel tired in my teens even though I trained for dozens of hours a week,” she said. “But I would get injured if I did the same thing now without limiting practice time. I also give attention to my sleeping. If I have any pain in my body, I cannot practice intensively.”

One positive in Asada's comeback is that her long time rival, Yuna Kim of South Korea, retired following the 2014 Winter Olympics. Her competitors will be younger than she is, but none of them will be as experienced as Asada. 

The Cup of China will take place from November 6th to the 8th. A lot of question marks remain, but many of those questions will be answered before 2015 ends.

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