Local figure skater Zhou lands historic quad lutz
Vincent Zhou of Palo Alto, right, became the first figure skater to land a quad lutz in Olympic competition, completing the jump in the short program.
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GANGNEUNG, South Korea — Vincent Zhou became the first figure skater to land a quad lutz in Olympic competition, but the 17-year-old from Palo Alto stood in 12th place in the short program early Friday.
Zhou’s four-rotation jump led into a triple toe loop to open his short program, and his season-best 82.53 points Friday, easily the best of the first group of skaters.
But in what amounted to a spectacular jumping contest complemented by superb spins and intricate footwork, the top four finishers were magnificent and spotless. The four men combined to land eight quads and four triple axels in their short programs.
Yuzuru Hanyu of Japan scored 111.68 points to build a more than a four-point lead over Spain’s Javier Fernandez, who shares the same coach, two-time Olympic medalist Brian Orser. Hanyu’s countryman Shoma Uno was third at 104.17, followed by China’s Jin Boyang at 103.32.
“I probably could get a little bit more points into the program, but not much more,” Fernandez said. “We’re hitting the limits of figure skating right now.”
The skaters will be flying high again in the free skate Saturday, when Hanyu attempts to become the first man to repeat as Olympic champion since Dick Button won in 1948 and 1952.
Hanyu missed two months of training with an ankle injury and only recently returned to full practices. No matter. He hit every element of a highly difficult program with precision and grace.
“I just wanted to show everyone I’m back, I’m here,” Hanyu said.
He might have done his best skating work avoiding raining Winnie the Poohs that cascaded onto the ice — sort of his trademark because he collects them — when he finished his skate.
Two-time U.S. champion Nathan Chen skated after Hanyu and the Pooh bear delay, something Chen had experienced before without being bothered by it.
But this time the preGames favorite, known for his quadruple jumps, missed on all his attempts Friday, plummeting to 17th place with a tentative and passionless showing.
“I’ve never been in this spot so I really don’t know what to do,” Chen said. “I thought I did everything right in my general approach, and it just didn’t work out the way it was supposed to.”
“Unfortunately, the axel has been just, ugh,” he added.
Fellow American Adam Rippon finished seventh, and his scintillating artistry helped him overcome the lack of the quad.
“You know, it was awesome. It felt like a lot of my ups and downs, my hard work, all kind of culminated together in that kind of special Olympic moment,” said Rippon, who lay flat on his back soaking up applause at the conclusion of his routine.
Zhou skated third overall, landed that first quad lutz in an Olympics and was clean except for not getting the full rotations on his triple axel.
“I had to wake up at 4 o’clock this morning,” Zhou said. “I didn’t get enough sleep. But I tried to make it work. I feel like I should be able to skate regardless of the time, regardless of the place. I mean, I’ve trained the program, the moment, so many times, I trust in myself out there and I’m pretty pleased with how it went.”
Russian Dmitri Aliev, who skated 20th of the 30 skaters, landed the second quad lutz in Olympic competition Friday.