Hanyu beats Chen in short program

STOCKHOLM, Sweden — The faceoff between Yuzuru Hanyu and Nathan Chen was no contest.

Japan’s Hanyu, looking every bit the champion of the sport, won the short program Thursday at the World Figure Skating Championships, distancing himself from Chen when the American fell on his opening quadruple lutz while Hanyu was sheer perfection.

Hanyu has been the sport’s biggest attraction for two Olympic cycles, each of which ended with him wearing a gold medal. He showed why in a short program packed with difficulty, style, artistry and a ton of energy.

Chen, the two-time defending world titlist, hasn’t lost a competition since the 2018 Olympics. But he’s now more than eight points behind Hanyu’s 106.98 points. And Hanyu’s countryman, 17-year-old sensation Yuma Kagiyama, is between the two favorites in second place.

Beyond the top tier, it was a flop-fest for a few of the top men: Olympic silver medalist Shoma Uno, American Vincent Zhou and China’s Jin Boyang.

Zhou, a bronze medalist at the 2019 worlds, fell on his quad lutz, under-rotated on his combination quad salchow-triple toe loop and then fell on a triple lutz. Zhou plummeted to 25th and did not qualify for the free skate on Saturday.

Uno crashed hard on his triple axel, while Jin, a two-time world bronze winner, fell on a quad lutz. Uno wound up sixth, Jim was 19th.

Russians Anastasia Mishina and Aleksandr Galliamov were spectacular in capturing the gold medal in pairs.