Anaheim, CA/USA

 

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 Vincent Zhou was in confident mood as he took the lead in Anaheim 2019©MARK RALSTON/AFP/Getty Images

Vincent Zhou (USA) cracked the 100-point barrier for the first time in his career to win the Men’s Short Program at the ISU Four Continents Figure Skating Championships 2019 in Anaheim (USA) on Thursday. Korea’s Junhwan Cha came second while defending champion Boyang Jin of China is currently ranked third.

Zhou opened his program to “Exogenesis Symphony Part III” by Muse with a quad Lutz-triple toeloop combination and followed up with a quad Salchow. The 2017 World Junior Champion went on to produce a triple Axel and level-four spins and footwork to score 100.18 points, which is a new personal best.

“This is my first time breaking 100 (points) in the short in international competition, I am very happy with this result, it is a reward, and a testimony to the hard work I’ve been putting in,” the US silver medalist said.

“I’m becoming more confident in my abilities. I did my jumps with better quality than before, I’ve been working on them. I’m proving to myself I can do clean jumps.”

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Junhwan Cha overcame a lack of training time to take second place 2019©MARK RALSTON/AFP/Getty Images

Performing to “Cinderella” by Sergei Prokofiev, Cha hit a quadruple Salchow, triple Lutz-triple loop combination and triple Axel. The Korean Champion collected a level four for his three spins and the step sequence and achieved a personal best score of 97.33 points.

Actually I’m very happy about my performance tonight, because I have a lot of competitions in a row,” the 17-year-old said. “I didn’t have the chance and time to train as normal, since I had competitions almost every week. I was nervous today, too, but I think I really tried my best.”

Jin stumbled on his opening quad Lutz, but recovered to land a somewhat shaky quad toe-double toe combination and a triple Axel in his program to “While My Guitar Gently Weeps” by The Beatles. He earned a season’s best of 92.17 points.

“I’m not quite satisfied with today’s performance, because I’ve been doing pretty well in the practice, so it may be due to my physical condition or the jet lag - it’s already 10pm and I’m actually kind of sleepy now,” Jin said.

“Two jumps were not very good. I think failing two jumps in one short program is a big problem, so I hope to adjust myself to pull out a better skate in the Free Program.”

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Boyang Jin performs to the sound of The Beatles in Anaheim 2019©MARK RALSTON/AFP/Getty Images

Olympic, World and Four Continents silver medalist Shoma Uno (JPN) had a shaky landing on the quad toe and stepped out of the triple Salchow-triple toeloop combination to finish fourth on 91.76 points. 

Keegan Messing (CAN) came fifth with 88.18 points and 2018 Four Continents bronze medalist Jason Brown (USA) rounds out the top six at 86.57 points.

The ISU Four Continents Figure Skating Championships 2019 continue Friday with the Pairs Short Program, Rhythm Dance and Ladies Free Skating. Click on the highlighted text for entry listsfull results and the official event website. Follow the discussion on social media using #4ContsFigure and #FigureSkating.