Hanyu dazzled the Canada crowd with another stunning routine on Saturday © International Skating Union
Two-time Olympic Champion Yuzuru Hanyu of Japan was once more in a league of his own scoring a runaway victory with 60 points to spare at Skate Canada in Kelowna on Saturday. To the delight of the home crowd, Canada’s Nam Nguyen rose to the occasion to take the silver medal and Japan’s Keiji Tanaka pulled up to claim the bronze medal.
Hanyu brought the house down with his dazzling performance to “Art on Ice”, hitting a quadruple Salchow, quadruple toeloop, quadruple toeloop-Euler-triple flip combination, a somewhat wobbly quadruple loop as well as two triple Axels, a triple Lutz and excellent spins and footwork. The two-time World Champion posted a new personal best with 212.99 points and racked up 322.59 points overall.
The two-time Olympic Champion posted a new personal best score in the Free Skating program © International Skating Union
“In this competition I was able to win within myself. I skated well in the short and free program which I didn’t manage before. I put a lot of pressure on myself before this competition, because I wanted to exceed 300 points and I wanted to win Skate Canada,” Hanyu shared.
Nguyen rounded off Skate Canada 2019 with a lively performance to take silver © International Skating Union
Skating last, Nguyen put out an energetic routine to a Beatles medley that featured a quadruple Salchow-triple toeloop combination, a triple Axel, triple Axel-Euler-triple Salchow combination as well as three more triple jumps. The Canadian Champion scored 178.69 points, a personal best score, and totaled 262.77 points to take the second Grand Prix medal of his career following bronze at Skate America in 2014.
The Canadian could not hide his delight as the home crowd celebrated his medal-winning performance © International Skating Union
“It was a great experience overall. To be able to put out that kind of performance after Yuzu’s god-like performance is a big step up in my career and I hope to continue the momentum,” the 21-year-old said.
Tanaka’s program to “Sherlock Holmes” included two quadruple Salchows as well as six triple jumps and level-four spins. The National bronze medalist scored 169.91 points, a new personal best, to end with 250.02 points overall.
Japan's Tanaka joined his compatriot on the podium after collecting bronze with a new personal best © International Skating Union
“Compared to the short program, the free skating was good. I was able to switch my mindset. However, my jumps were not perfect, I didn’t do the quad toe and there is room for improvement,” Tanaka noted.
Grand Prix debutant Camden Pulkinen (USA) slipped from second to fourth at 244.78 points after a few minor errors in his free skate. Deniss Vasiljevs (LAT) finished fifth (227.40 points) and Matteo Rizzo (ITA) moved up from ninth to sixth place on 223.78 points.
ISU Grand Prix of Figure Skating Standings Men
Overall, 60 skaters/couples representing 14 ISU members are competing at Skate Canada International from October 25 - 27. The top 6 qualifiers of the Grand Prix series in each discipline will proceed to the Final in Torino (ITA), from December 5 - 8, 2019. Full entry lists, results, the General Announcement of the ISU Grand Prix of Figure Skating Series are available on isu.org.
Where to watch and follow the ISU Grand Prix of Figure Skating 2019?
Viewers will be able to watch the Series either via their national broadcaster / channel and for countries where there are no broadcasters, the ISU will offer a live stream on the Skating ISU YouTube Channel as of season 2019/20. You will find the full list in the Where to watch news here.
Subscribe to the ISU Newsletter to receive the latest information and the “Where to Watch” news and you can also subscribe to the Skating ISU YouTube Channel to receive notifications when live streams start or new videos are published.
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ISU Grand Prix of Figure Skating 2019/20
Skate America - Las Vegas (USA) – October 18 – 20
Skate Canada International – Kelowna (CAN) – October 25 – 27
Internationaux de France – Grenoble (FRA) – Novembre 1 – 3
SHISEIDO cup of China – Chongqing (CHN) – November 8 – 10
Rostelecom Cup – Moscow (RUS) – November 15 – 17
NHK Trophy – Sapporo (JPN) – November 22 – 24
ISU Grand Prix of Figure Skating Final (Senior & Junior) – Torino (ITA) – December 5 – 8
