Vincent Zhou (USA) claimed the Men’s Short Program at the ISU Grand Prix Guaranteed Rate Skate America in Las Vegas on Friday. Japan’s Shoma Uno sits second and Jimmy Ma (USA) surprisingly came third.
Vincent Zhou © International Skating Union (ISU)
Zhou nailed a quad Lutz-triple toe combination, a slightly under-rotated quad Salchow and a somewhat shaky triple Axel in his routine to “Vincent”. The 2019 World bronze medalist scored 97.43 points.
"I'm going to take this into tomorrow and use it to build confidence and move forward,” the American said. “I did a good job performing the program and showing some of the great things we've been doing in training. I can skate even better. I'm competing pretty consistently this season and this is just another building block."
Uno popped his planned quad flip into a double, but recovered to hit a quad toe-triple toe and a triple Axel to pick up 89.07 points. “I made a mistake on the quad flip, but I did the quad toe-triple toe and I think this is the first time in two years I landed it cleanly,” the 2018 Olympic silver medalist said. “I was showing what I have been doing in training, but it was not 100 percent yet.”
Ma, who was named in the team for Skate America only a few days ago, produced a quad toe-triple toe, triple Lutz and triple Axel in his routine to “Black Swan.” He earned a personal best score of 84.52 points.
"I definitely wasn't expecting to sit up here tonight,“ the 26-year-old said. “My only goal for this competition was to do everything I do in training, to feel the music. I didn't want to have any regrets going home. Obviously, there's stil a big job ahead of me tomorrow and I'm very excited. I am excited to learn from this experience, it is unreal.”
Three-time World Champion Nathan Chen (USA) fell on his opening quad Lutz and stumbled on his quad flip to finish fourth at 82.89 points. Shun Sato (JPN) placed fifth at 80.52 points and Michal Brezina (CZE) came sixth (75.43 points).
Guaranteed Rate Skate America continues on Saturday with the Rhythm Dance, Women’s Short Program, Pairs and Men’s Free Skating.