SKATING WORLDS
Chan 3rd after short program
Canada’s Patrick Chan made his one quadruple jump a big one, his feet nearly clearing the top of the boards at Hartwell Arena.
The three-time world champion sat third after Thursday’s men’s short program at the world figure skating championships, planting himself in podium contention with the textbook skills and gorgeous execution that once made him the world’s best. Plus just one quad. “I was trying to stick to my plan,” Chan said. “I’m sitting (at the postskate news conference) with two guys who have two quads in their short program and I’m the only guy who was doing one.
“I found out this entire season that I almost psych myself out by just seeing and acknowledging what they’re doing and then forgetting what I need to do . ... My whole goal this year was to try and challenge myself just to stay in my own world and know that I belong in this group of men and not get too discouraged.”
Defending champion Javier Fernandez of Spain scored 109.05 to lead after the short program, while Japan’s Shoma Uno (104.86) was second. Each had a pair of clean quads.
Kevin Reynolds of Coquitlam, B.C., landed both of his quads cleanly to finish 12th with a score of 84.44.
Later Thursday, two-time world champions Eric Radford and Meagan Duhamel held on to finish seventh in pairs competition. Radford battled through an injury as the duo finished with 206.06 points for their shaky program to the French song Non, je ne regrette rien.
Canada’s Lubov Ilyushechkina and Dylan Moscovitch finished sixth, and the combined results from the two teams ensured Canada would send three pairs teams to the 2018 PyeongChang Olympics.
China’s Sui Wenjing and Han Cong won gold with 232.06, while Germany’s Aliona Savchenko and Bruno Massot were second (230.30), and Russia’s Evgenia Tarasova and Vladimir Morozov took the bronze (219.03).