Chan falters in free skate, Spain’s Fernandez retains crown
BOSTON — Turns out there’s still some rust on the blades of three-time world champion Patrick Chan.
The decorated Canadian skater, who left the competition scene for 18 months, struggled throughout the men’s free skate Friday night at TD Garden and finished fifth at the 2016 World Figure Skating Championships.
Chan was never going to catch eventual gold medallist Javier Fernandez, whose brilliant free skate brought down the house and allowed the Spaniard to defend the world title he won in a year ago in Shanghai.
Chan shook his head in frustration as he awaited his marks. Chan’s free skate score of 171.91 was eighth best on the night and dropped him from third after the short program.
Among the miscues, Chan hit the boards on the back end of a quad combination while faltering on a number of other elements. Despite all that, Chan missed a bronze medal by only 4.25 points.
Thanks to a sensational long program, recognized by a nearsellout crowd at TD Garden, Fernandez was able to defend the world title he won a year earlier in Shanghai. Coached in Toronto by former Canadian Olympic silver medallist Brian Orser, Fernandez started out strong, landing a quad toe look early, one of three magnificent quad jumps he would execute in his program.
That effort earned a massive standing ovation and the judges rewarded him with a score of 216.41 for the free skate and a combined total of 314.93, good enough to soar past Japan’s Yuzuru Hanyu and into first. The Japanese star held a lead of more than 12 points after the short program.
Skating in his first world championship since 2013, Chan entered the long program confident and pleased with his comeback. Sitting in third entering Friday’s program, Chan was always going to have a difficult time reaching for gold.
But Hanyu, who is also coached by Orser, was far from clean with his free skate and opened the door for Chan and Fernandez, who stood second after the short. Hanyu, who also struggled in the long program at the Sochi Olympics, faltered on a quad Salchow then fell on his quad combination. Hanyu knew what he had done, too, finishing his performance with his hands on his knees in disappointment. Ultimately the stage was set for Chan, who was skating last in the final flight of six. Shine in the long and his chances to move up to second was in play.
It didn’t work out that way and the three-time champ tumbled from medal contention. Boyang Jin of China won the bronze.
Earlier in the day, after scoring a personal best 78.18 points in Friday’s short program, reigning world pairs champs Meagan Duhamel and Eric Radford sit in second place behind Sui Wenjing and Han Cong of China (80.85).
With that effort, not only did the Canadian duo erase some of the doubts from earlier in the season, they put themselves in position to claim gold in Saturday’s free skate, a spot where their difficult program usually allows them to shine.
“If we do it the best we can, I’m confident it’s going to be enough to win a gold medal,” Duhamel said on Friday.
With a quad throw Salchow in their long program, they have returned to a favourite’s role though Russians Tatiana Volosozhar and Maxim Trankov, who captured gold at the 2014 Sochi Olympics are in third place.
Duhamel and Radford brought Canadians back to prominence in the pairs competition in 2015 when they won every event they skated, including the world title, the first Canadian duo to do so since Jamie Sale and David Pelletier in 2001.