Nathan Chen lays waste to field to win figure skating worlds title
American scores 321.40, over 47 points higher than 2nd place
Nathan Chen's redemption is complete.
While all of his top competitors fell, the 18-year-old Chen completed six quadruple jumps in the free program on Saturday to become the first U.S. winner of the men's world figure skating title since 2009.
For the rest, it was a fallathon: 14 sprawls, splats, and tumbles among five competitors as they attempted the all-mighty quad. There were three falls by silver medallist Shoma Uno of Japan, who matched his Olympic silver, and two by Mikhail Kolyada of Russia, who took bronze.
Skating last, Chen said he knew the others made mistakes — though not quite how bad — and that gave him the freedom to attempt six quads, knowing he had room for error.
Chen scored 219.46 in the free program, completing six quads, to give him a total score of 321.40, both the second highest of all-time.
Uno finished with a total score of 273.77 over 47 points back of Chen.
Canada's Keegan Messing placed eighth at his first ever worlds with a score of 252.30.
"To go out there and miss a couple of elements I've been nailing all week is a little hurtful," said Messing. "Still I tried to keep my head up and give a good performance. I hope the crowd still loved it."
The ice dance free will go later Saturday, and will be streamed live on cbcsports.ca.
With files from CBC Sports