Figure skating: Chen, Medvedeva claim titles in Moscow

MOSCOW: American teenager Nathan Chen romped to the men’s title at the Cup of Russia on Saturday, while Evgenia Medvedeva of Russia won the women’s event.

The 18-year-old Chen, who led after the short program, thrilled the crowd in Moscow with a set of quads in his free routine “Mao’s Last Dancer” by Christopher Gordon.

“The beginning half of my program I was very happy with,” the US nationals winner said. “I hit all the quads and I think I did them relatively well.

“I’ve got a little tired halfway through the program and started faltering a little bit on the second quad toe - that was a big mistake. But this is my first Grand Prix win and I’m very happy with that.”

Though Chen failed to win the free skating finishing second he managed to keep his overall lead to rack up a total of 293.79 points, three ahead of Japanese golden boy Yuzuru Hanyu.

“The most important thing is for me to rotate each jump, each combination. That made the three points difference,” Hanyu said.

“I realized once again how important it is to practice each element and to perform each element with care.”

Local favourite Mikhail Kolyada took third on 271.06 points.

Amongst the women Russia’s twotime world champion Medvedeva, 17, who won last year’s Grand Prix final at Marseille, confirmed her dominant position at the event with an emotional performance of her “Anna Karenina” free program.

Medvedeva received a 231.21point overall mark to finish first, 15 points ahead of Italy’s veteran Carolina Kostner, the five-time European champion. - AFP