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Kao Miura of Japan, the youngest competitor in the Men’s event, skated off with his first ISU Championship title as the ISU Four Continents Championships continued on Saturday.

At the other end of the age scale, oldest man in the competition and Canadian Champion Keegan Messing claimed the silver - the first ISU Championship medal of his long career.

Shun Sato of Japan climbed from sixth to earn the bronze in an exciting event.

The atmosphere was electric when Miura stepped onto the ice after Messing had produced an emotional performance that had the crowd on its feet.

The Japanese teenager - last to skate after leading the Short Program - remained cool and laid down another great routine to “The Beauty and the Beast”, starting off with a triple Axel-Euler-triple Salchow and a quad toe-triple toe. The quad Salchow was somewhat shaky, but the 17-year-old continued unfazed with a quad toe and three more triples.

Kao Miura JPN 4cont Colorado freeskate Feb23 1465193001

Kao Miura (JPN) capitalised on the electric atmosphere in the Broadmoor World Arena to set a personal best in the Free Skate and seal gold © ISU

The 2022 ISU Four Continents bronze medalist picked up a level four for two spins and set a new personal best with 189.63 points to rack up 281.53 points and claim gold.

“Today was amazing. Just before I went on the ice, Keegan put out an amazing program,” Miura said.

“The atmosphere was different and he gave me a lot of energy, so I was able to really skate well.

“I am happy about all components of my program. I was able to make sure I had the right speed at the right time and to take it slowly in some parts,” he explained.  

Messing delivered one of the best performances of his long career. Skating to “Home” and “Lullaby for an Angel”, the 31-year-old produced a quad toe-double toe, another quad toe as well as six triple jumps and excellent spins and footwork.

The Canadian Champion - who is planning to retire at the end of this season - posted a personal best with 188.87 points for a total score of 275.57 points to take the silver medal.

Keegan Messing CAN

Keegan Messing (CAN) earned his first championship medal 28 years after first skating and just months ahead of his planned retirement  © ISU

“I am beyond stoked for how I skated today. This is my first championship medal. It took me 28 years of skating to get here,” Messing said.

“To be able to come out here to put down a program like that is unreal to me. Hopefully this just a stepping stone for what’s to come [at the ISU World Championships].

“The air is quite a bit thinner up here, but we made sure that we paced ourselves throughout the program, to take one step at a time and by the time we hit the second half of the program and I landed the second Axel, I felt like I was on top of the world and I kept riding the wave.”

Sato’s program to “Red Violin” featured a quad Lutz, quad toe-double toe, quad toe and five triple jumps. The ISU Grand Prix Finalist scored 178.33 points and accumulated 259.14 points to rise from sixth to third and earn his first ISU Championship medal – exactly one year after having surgery on his left shoulder.

Shun Sato JPN

Shun Sato (JPN) confirmed his return by winning his first ISU Championship medal exactly a year after having shoulder surgery © ISU

“Last year at this time I was undergoing surgery and right now a year later I won third place at Four Continents. I really wanted to show last year’s me that I was able to show so much this year,” the 19-year-old commented.

“Still this season the short program is not consistent, I’m having problems with it. I still have one competition left and I want to make sure I nail a perfect short program,” he added.

Men's podium at the 2023 Four Continents Championships

The Men's podium featured both the youngest and the oldest skaters in the competition in Miura (centre) and Messing (left) © ISU

2022 ISU Four Continents Champion Junhwan Cha (KOR) came fourth on 250.14 points. He landed a quad Salchow, but missed a quad toe and singled an Axel. 

Mikhail Shaidorov (KAZ), who had arrived in Colorado Springs only five hours before the Short Program on Thursday, moved up from 12th to fifth at 237.14 points while Sihyeong Lee (KOR) surged from 14th place to finish sixth (227.79 points).

Two-time ISU World bronze medalist Boyang Jin (CHN) placed seventh in his first competition in a year (227.47 points), Conrad Orzel (CAN) produced a personal best of 226.10 points to finish eighth and Jimmy Ma (USA) dropped from third to ninth after a few errors (221.04 points).

Schedule of the event

The schedule of the ISU Four Continents Figure Skating Championships is as follows:


Thursday, February 9:             Women’s & Men’s Short Programs
Friday, February 10:                Pairs Short Program, Rhythm Dance & Women’s Free Skating
Saturday, February 11:            Pairs & Men’s Free Skating
Sunday, February 12:              Free Dance & Exhibition Gala

 

For full entries and results, please see the ISU event page and the official website. Follow the discussion on social media using #4ContsFigure and #FigureSkating. 

 

Where to watch the ISU Four Continents Figure Skating Championships 2023:

The ISU Four Continents Figure Skating Championships will be live streamed on the Skating ISU YouTube Channel. Geo-restrictions will apply in markets where TV rights are in place. You will find the full list in the Where to Watch news here.

Subscribe to the Skating ISU YouTube Channel to receive alerts when the live streams start and when new videos are posted.