Olympic champion Yuzuru Hanyu breaks own short program record to lead Grand Prix Final

BARCELONA, Spain – Olympic champion Yuzuru Hanyu of Japan broke his own points record for a men’s short program to take a commanding lead of the Grand Prix Final on Thursday.

The defending champion earned 110.95 points for his skate, surpassing his own record-breaking short program worth 106.33 from last month’s NHK Trophy. Hanyu also broke the record for total points at the NHK Trophy with 322.40.

Local favourite and world champion Javier Fernandez skated last — immediately after Hanyu’s stunning performance. The Spaniard was second with 91.52 points.

“It’s true that I thought before going on that it doesn’t matter what I do because he has over 100 points,” said Fernandez, who finished second here to Hanyu last year. “He will be very hard to beat, but I will try to do my best.”

Performing to Chopin, Hanyu nailed his opening quad salchow, and followed that with a flawless quad toeloop and triple toeloop combination before adding a triple axel. He was greeted with huge applause before skating and a standing ovation complete with a shower of flowers from his fans, many waving Japanese flags, when he finished.

Hanyu played down his big night, trying to stay focused on Saturday’s free skate.

“Rather than getting more points, I just wanted to perfect my elements,” Hanyu said. “The free (skate) is another day. I just want to do another good performance.”

China’s Boyang Jin was third with 86.95 points.

While the 21-year-old Hanyu took a big step to winning his third straight Grand Prix Final, former three-time world champion Patrick Chan had a disappointing start.

Chan failed to do the triple toeloop of an opening combination, and then added the same jump later in his program. The Canadian was left last of the six finalists with 70.61 points, which is nearly 30 points off his personal best.

“I messed up,” said Chan. “I tried to add the combo on the Lutz because you never want to give up. I tried to feel the program, feel the jumps but it wasn’t successful. I just have to put that behind me and have a fresh start.”

In pairs, world champions champions Meagan Duhamel of Lively, Ont., and Eric Radford of Balmertown, Ont., are in the midst of a heated battle for a meda;.

Duhamel and Radford are sitting third at 72.74 just ahead of first year seniors Julianne Seguin of Longueuil, Que., and Charlie Bilodeau of Trois-Pistoles, Que., in fourth at 71.16. Russians are 1-2 with Ksenia Stolbova and Fedor Klimov first at 74.84 and Yuko Kavaguti and Alexander Smirnov second at 73.64.

Duhamel and Radford, the defending Grand Prix Final champions, had a fall on a throw near the end of the program.

“It was the best short program we’ve done this season,” said Duhamel. “But we know we are capable of more. Falling on a throw triple is uncharacteristic of us. We possibly got carried away with the moment with everything else being so good.”

Radford says they don’t feel pressure with their impressive streak of six straight Grand Prix wins on the line.

“We approach every event the same,” he said. “When the music starts we bring ourselves back to the same place. That’s what we’ll do tomorrow (Friday) we know we are capable of skating a great long program.”

Seguin and Bilodeau also posted a season’s best score.

“We felt really great out there,” Seguin said. “We are taking it as an experience and this gives us some confidence for the free skate.”

Earlier, Ksenia Stolbova and Fedor Klimov topped the scores for the pair’s short program with 74.84 points.

Fellow Russians Yuko Kavaguti and Alexander Smirnov were in second place with 73.64, while defending champions Meagan Duhamel and Eric Radford were third with 72.74.

The Canadian pair, who also hold the world title, were on course for a bigger score until Duhamel fell while trying to land a throw triple lutz near the end of their program.

The pair’s free skate and the women’s short program and short ice dance are on Friday at the temporary rink inside Barcelona’s International Convention Center.

— With files from The Canadian Press