The ISU World Figure Skating Championships 2015 continued in Shanghai, China, on Friday with the Men’s Short Program. The Oriental Sports Center was packed the third consecutive day. The arena seats 14,700 people.
Yuzuru Hanyu (JPN) captures Men’s Short Program
Yuzuru Hanyu of Japan captured the Men’s Short Program. Javier Fernandez of Spain came second and Kazakhstan’s Denis Ten follows in third.
Hanyu stumbled on his opening quadruple toeloop but rallied back to it a triple Axel, triple Lutz-triple toe combination, three level-four spins and level-four footwork in his routine set to Ballade No. 1 in G minor by Frederic Chopin. The Olympic Champion posted a seasons best with 95.20 points. “This is my first small gold medal that I won at Worlds so I’m happy. However, my quad toeloop was not clean. It is a very important jump for me to score high. I regret that”, the reigning World Champion explained.
Fernandez’ program to “Black Betty” by Ram Jam featured a quadruple Salchow, triple Lutz-triple toe, triple Axel and three level-four spins. The three-time European Champion scored 92.74 points. “Definitely I’m really pleased with my performance today. I’ve been training really hard, I’ve been training this program a lot and well and I did here what I do in practice. It’s great to see when your work is actually paying off”, the two-time World bronze medalist said.
Perfoming to “Caruso”, Ten produced a triple Axel and picked up a level for his spins and the step sequence. However, the Olympic bronze medalist fell on his quadruple toeloop and stepped out of the triple Lutz-triple toeloop combination. The 2015 Four Continents Champion earned 85.89 points. “I definitely came here in a good shape. I kind of peaked at Four Continents and I wanted to take that same level to Shanghai, but unfortunately the first day didn’t go that way, I just want to do better tomorrow”, the 21-year-old commented.
Sergei Voronov (RUS) remains within striking distance to the podium in fourth at 84.70 points. Han Yan (CHN) and Jason Bronw (USA) are not far behind in fifth and sixth place with 84.45 points and 84.32 points respectively.
The ISU World Figure Skating Championships 2015 continue Saturday with the Ladies and Men’s Free Skating.