Jenna McCorkell could have been forgiven for thinking the Olympics had come back to haunt her.

The five rings were the backdrop at the Palavela Arena in Turin, as the Coleraine skater took to the ice in the short programme yesterday at the World Championships being staged at the 2006 Olympic venue.

McCorkell missed out on those Games because of a back injury and had to wait four more years for her Olympics debut in Vancouver.

The disappointment of her performance last month has been well documented but the gutsy 23-year-old had vowed to set the record straight and show the world what she is really capable off and yesterday she did just that.

In an almost flawless routine — this time there was no fall on the tricky combination — she completed all the required technical elements recording a score of 52.12, her second highest ever in competition and best at the World Championships and going into today’s free programme she lies in an excellent 15th place out of 55 starters.

McCorkell wasn’t far off her best score of 53.80 set at this year’s European Championships and if she can skate to her potential this afternoon then she should better the score of 128.67 points for a best-ever finish of 20th in Los Angeles last year.

“I am ecstatic with the way I skated today, my combination which let me down in Vancouver, was spot on and I had a really great skate,” said McCorkell.

“It felt really good again to be out there and performing like I know I can. The Olympics are now in the past.”

McCorkell’s coach Yuri Bureiko said: “This was a great day today! Jenna showed her true character and the guts that are needed to come back from disappointment. I am very proud of her.”

The competition is led by American Mirai Nagasu who scored 70.40 with Olympic champion Yu-Na Kim from Korea surprisingly down the field in a lowly seventh place.