Beijing / China

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Russia’s Mikhail Kolyada upset reigning World bronze medalist Boyang Jin, of China, and Spain’s two-time World Champion  Javier Fernandez to take the lead in the Men’s Short Program.

Skating to Piano Concerto No. 23 by Mozart, Kolyada reeled off a quad Lutz, quad toe-triple toe, triple Axel and two level-four spins, but wobbled on his camel spin. The Russian Champion recorded a personal best 103.13 points, joining the exclusive ‘100+’ club for the first time. “I did not look so happy at the end of my program because this is only the Short Program and everything will be decided tomorrow,” the European bronze medalist said. “So I did not let my emotions out. Overall, I enjoyed my performance today. The only negative thing was the change foot camel spin – I somehow lost my focus,” the 22-year-old added.

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Jin touched down with his hand on the quad Lutz in the combination jump and also turned out of the quad toeloop in his program to ‘Crouching Tiger Hidden Dragon’. The two-time and current World bronze medalist recovered to hit a solid triple Axel and difficult spins to set a season’s best with 93.89 points. “It is a season’s best, but it is not my personal best,” the 20-year-old commented. “The performance was OK but the jumps did not work so well. I got level fours for my spins – that was good.”

Fernandez landed a quad Salchow and level four spins and footwork in his Charlie Chaplin routine. However, the five-time European Champion reduced his combination to a triple toe-double toe and stepped out of the landing of the triple Axel.  He earned 90.57 points. “Sometimes I skate well, sometimes not so well. I have been training well during the competition, but I was not able to do a great Short Program,” Fernandez said. “The judges did not seem to like my program, I got low component scores.”

Keiji Tanaka (JPN) follows in fourth with a personal best score of 87.19 points. Max Aaron (USA) ranks fifth (83.11 points) and Han Yan (CHN) completes the top six on 82.22 points.

The ISU Grand Prix of Figure Skating series consists of six events and culminates in the ISU Grand Prix of Figure Skating Final in Nagoya (JPN) in December. The top six skaters/couples in each discipline qualify for the Final. The global prize money for the Grand Prix is US$272,000.

Full entry lists and results of the ISU Grand Prix of Figure Skating 2017/18 are available here.  Follow the discussion on social media by using #GPFigure #FigureSkating