Kristi Yamaguchi and Mark Ballas dancing the mambo and the foxtrot. (ABC photos)

LOS ANGELES — Olympic gold medalist Kristi Yamaguchi seems to be making the transition from skating to dancing.

On ABC’s hit reality show “Dancing With the Stars,” she and her partner, professional dancer Mark Ballas, received the highest-ever scores for a first round last week with their foxtrot performance. All three judges gave them a 9.

In interviews before the competition started, Yamaguchi said that her figure skating experience wouldn’t necessarily make her a good dancer, but judge Bruno Tonioli declared her foxtrot one of the best performances he’d seen in the first round.

During the first two weeks, each couple had to do one ballroom dance and one Latin dance. For this week, Yamaguchi and Ballas chose the mambo (the other option was the cha-cha). Again, they received 9 points from each judge for a total of 54 out of 60 possible points.

After seeing Yamaguchi’s mambo, host Tom Bergeron remarked, “Well, so much for being shy.”

Judge Carrie Ann Inaba told the pair, “I think the other couples are going to have a really hard time beating you in the scores, because you are so precise. It’s just boggling to me. Have you never really done this before?”

Yamaguchi shook her head and said, “I haven’t!”

According to TV Guide’s Power Ranking poll, Yamaguchi is favored to win. She received an overwhelming 31.2 percent of the vote. Chilean actor Cristian de la Fuente was second with 11.5 percent and R&B singer Mario was third with 10 percent.

This week saw the elimination of two stars — magician Penn Gillette and tennis champ Monica Seles, who were in last place. Among those still in the running are radio host Adam Carolla, pro football player Jason Taylor, and actors Steve Guttenberg, Shannon Elizabeth, Marlee Matlin and Priscilla Presley.

Next week, each pair will dance the tango or jive. The show airs on Mondays at 8 p.m. and Tuesdays at 9 p.m.

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