US figure skating sensation Nathan Chen set new world record scores on his way to a third consecutive men’s gold at the ISU Grand Prix Final in Turin on Saturday, leaving vanquished Yuzuru Hanyu feeling “a little jealous”.
Two-time world champion Chen blew away his great Japanese rival with a total overall score of 335.30 points after his free skate to Elton John’s ‘Rocket Man’.
Double Olympic champion Hanyu was thwarted in his bid for a record fifth Grand Prix Final title, taking silver with 291.43. France’s Kevin Aymoz won bronze with 275.63.
Taking to the ice last, Chen had a long wait for the rink to be cleared of the hundreds of Winnie The Pooh soft toys and gifts thrown onto the ice by Hanyu’s adoring fans on the Japanese skater’s 25th birthday.
The American nailed five quadruple jumps, earning extra points including two in the second half of his programme, culminating with a triple lutz-triple toeloop combination.
The 20-year-old bettered his own record scores from last year’s world championships in the free skate by 8.9 points and the overall record by nearly 12 points.
“It felt amazing, I’m really thrilled with the score,” said Chen.
“I got pretty gassed out at the end so I need to work on my stamina a little bit.”
Read Also: Six Months Of Sacrifice: Hong Kong’s Protesters Take Stock
It left an emotional Hanyu feeling old and envious.
“I’m a little jealous of him,” said Hanyu. “But I really respect him.
“Nathan is making it harder and harder in figure skating, and I’m much older than him!
“Nathan is pushing the sport, he’s an icon for my practice.”
Hanyu added: “I can say I have two gold medals for the Olympics, but that’s the past, I want to live in the now, I want to compete more and more with Nathan.”
Chen, from Salt Lake City, had taken a 13-point lead on Hanyu into the free skating final at the Palavela.
But Hanyu hit back with five quadruple jumps in a brilliant performance to Edvin Marton’s ‘Origin’, a composer Yevgeny Plushenko skated to 2006 Winter Olympics gold at the Turin rink.
The only glitch in the Japanese skater’s programme was his under-rotation of a triple flip and singling his final triple axel jump.
AFP / Marco BertorelloStuffed toys thrown by fans scatter the ice rink as Japan’s Yuzuru Hanyu collapses on the ice in exhaustion after performing at the Grand Prix FinalHundreds of stuffed toys rained down on the ice as Hanyu collapsed in exhaustion.
“I decided to do five quadruples after the short programme yesterday,” said Hanyu.
“Even though I knew I couldn’t win I wanted to achieve something at this competition.
“I’m very happy with what I accomplished, this helps my confidence to grow.”
– ‘Skating God’ –
Hanyu was returning to the elite six-skater event after a two-year absence looking to topple Chen and lay the groundwork to reclaim the world title in Montreal next March.
Hanyu, who trains under Canadian coach Brian Orser in Toronto, won four consecutive Grand Prix Final titles between 2013 and 2016, and a fifth would see him overtake Russians Plushenko and Irina Slutskaya.
On his big rival, Chen added: “It’s an amazing honour to be able to compete against Yuzuru. I’ve idolised him for years.
“Even now, he’s still truly like a skating god to me. Of course, now Kevin, I’ve competed with him for a couple of years now and continue to see his improvement.”
French champion Aymoz claimed his first podium place, surviving a fall on his second quadruple jump, in a solid performance to Patrick Watson’s ‘Lighthouse’.
“I never imagined to be next to these two guys one day so I’m really happy,” said the 23-year-old.
Two-time world champions Sui Wenjing and Han Cong led a Chinese 1-2 to claim their first pairs gold on Friday night ahead of Peng Cheng and Jin Yang.
In the women’s competition, Alena Kostornaia is leading a Russian 1-2-3 going into the free skating final later Saturday with defending champion Rika Kihira last in the six-skater field.
Four-time world ice dancing champions Gabriella Papadakis and Guillaume Cizeron are leading going into the free dance final.
AFP NEWS
