Helsinki / Finland

The ISU World Figure Skating Championships 2017 continued in Helsinki, Finland, Thursday with the Men’s Short Program.

Javier Fernandez (ESP) scores personal best, skates to lead in Men’s Short

Javier Fernandez of Spain achieved a personal best score to take the lead in the Men’s Short Program. Shoma Uno of Japan came second and Canada’s Patrick Chan finished third, both setting personal best scores as well in what was a high-level event.

World Champion Fernandez nailed his passionate Malaguena program, landing a quad-triple toe combination, quad Salchow, triple Axel and picking up a level four for his spins and the footwork. The reward were 109.05 points. “I did what I had to do, there was a little mistake in one of the spins, but I still got a level four for it. I hope to continue like this for the long program the day after tomorrow and for the whole upcoming season. I do believe in the consecutive third gold and will fight for it, but there are so many talented skaters now. They will try to jump on top of my score and take my title”, the five-time European Champion said.

Skating to “Fantasy for Violin and Orchestra” by Nigel Hess, Uno hit a quad flip, quad toe-triple toe and triple Axel as well as level-four spins and footwork to pick up 104.86 points. “Today, from the beginning to the end I was very calm and I am happy to be able to make a new personal best and it is great to see that my scores are getting higher and higher every time. Last year, I was very disappointed at the World Championships 2016 and it ended with tears. But the experience and the failure taught me a lot. So my goal for the free program is to finish the competition with a happy smile”, the Japanese Champion shared.

Chan impressed with a quad toe-triple toe, triple Axel, triple Lutz and excellent footwork in his Beatles program to “Dear Prudence” and “Black Bird”. The three-time World Champion broke through the 100 points barrier for the first time in his career with 102.13 points. “After some disappointments I've had it was a great experience. It was the first time I broke the 100 points in an international event. I've had other medals, especially at the Worlds event, I have three championships. For me it is more about the accomplishments, like today. I'm serious. I'm in third, but it feels like I'm in first because I was able to achieve a season's best over one hundred points”, the 2014 Olympic silver medalist noted.

The skaters in fourth to sixth are still within striking distance of the podium. 2016 World bronze medalist Boyang Jin (CHN) hit a quad-triple Lutz and quad toe in to finish fourth (98.64 points). Olympic Champion Yuzuru Hanyu (JPN) landed a quad loop, but he stumbled out of his quadruple Salchow and the combination did not count as such. He came fifth (98.39 points). 2017 Four Continents Champion
Nathan Chen (USA) produced a quad Lutz-triple toe, a quad flip, but he fell on the triple Axel to place sixth (97.33 points).

The competition continues tonight with the Pairs Free Skating.