Patrick Chan fifth at world championships

BOSTON – Patrick Chan of Toronto struggled in his free skate Friday to finish fifth overall in men’s competition at the ISU World Figure Skating Championships.

Javier Fernandez of Spain successfully defended his world title earning a whopping 314.93 points. Yuzuru Hanyu of Japan, first after the short program, took the silver at 295.17 and Boyang Jin of China was third at 270.99.

Chan, who sat out all of last season, was just four points from the podium despite the eighth best long program of the night for 266.75. He was third after the short. Early in his free skate he hit the boards on a combination jump.

‘’That completely changed the momentum of the program,’’ said Chan, a three-time world champion who sat out last season. ‘’There is really nothing to be upset about. As much as we all want to win, it’s great to be here and feel that pressure.’’

In the pairs short program, reigning world champions Meagan Duhamel of Lively, Ont., and Eric Radford of Balmertown, Ont., are in second place with 78.18. Wenjing Sui and Cong Han of China lead at 80.85. Tatiana Volosozhar and Maxim Trankov of Russia are third at 77.13.

“We’re very happy,” said Duhamel. “We had been getting frustrated with our short this season and we decided today enough is enough. We were determined and focused.”

Radford said he was convinced they were ready.

“We finally found that focus that we had last season,’’ he said. ‘’It’s the comfort zone that we haven’t been able to achieve most of this season.’’

There were two more strong Canadian performances. Lubov Iliushechkina and Dylan Moscovitch of Toronto are eighth at 68.17 and Kirsten Moore-Towers of St. Catharines, Ont., and Michael Marinaro of Sarnia, Ont., are 10th at 66.06.

‘’Our biggest goal for today was to keep that consistency with our energy and our attack,’’ said Moscovitch. ‘’It felt really nice tonight; easy and fun.’’

All three Canadian pairs produced personal best scores.

“I’m thrilled we put out such a strong performance,’’ said Moore-Towers. ‘’It was our personal best by a lot.’’

Competition ends Saturday with the free skates in pairs and women’s competition.

Full results: ISU World Figure Skating Championships 2016

Weaver and Poje place fifth at ISU World Championships

BOSTON – Kaitlyn Weaver and Andew Poje of Waterloo, Ont., took fifth place in ice dancing on Thursday at the ISU World Figure Skating Championships.

Gabriella Papadakis and Guillaume Cizeron of France successfully defended their world title winning the gold medal with 194.46 points. Maia Shibutani and Alex Shibutani of the U.S. followed for silver at 188.43 and Madison Chock and Evan Bates of the U.S. were third at 185.77.

Weaver and Poje, third at last year’s worlds, earned a season’s best 182.01. It was the first time in 10 years Canada’s has not reached the world podium in ice dancing.

“We felt really prepared for the competition,“ said Poje. “But that didn’t come through in the performance. We are still proud of the effort we put into it and the growth we still have to push into the future.”

Weaver says the couple must keep pushing the envelope.

“It took us a long time to master (the free dance),” she said. “Unfortunately the past two outings we haven’t shown what we are capable of. These are the programs that will push us to a new level and make us even better next year.”

Piper Gilles and Paul Poirier of Toronto were eighth, with a personal best 173.07.

“We gave it a little too hard at the beginning and we both felt tired at the end,” said Poirier. ‘’We are so proud how we’ve been able to push the programs the last few weeks and to finish the season with two personal bests is really exciting.’’

In women’s competition after the short program, Gracie Gold of the U.S. is first at 76.43, Anna Pogorilaya of Russia second at 73.98 and her compatriot Evgenia Medvedeva third at 73.76.

Gabrielle Daleman of Newmarket, Ont., produced a clean program and is eighth at 67.38.  It wasn’t as smooth for Alaine Chartrand of Prescott, Ont., who ranked 17th at 55.67.

The 18-year-old Daleman raised her arms triumphantly after her performance.

“I’ve had trouble with my short program this season,” said Daleman, a 2014 Olympian. “Just to finally lay a clean short program and doing it that well I was so overwhelmed.  On the ice, I just told myself: breathe, confident and comfortable.”

Chartrand, the Canadian champion, didn’t mince words with her performance. She stumbled on the second part of her opening combo jump and fell on the all-important double Axel.

“I just rushed it a little bit, got ahead of myself,” said Chartrand, 20, about her fall. “It was a costly mistake. Things were going pretty good up to that point. I wasn’t satisfied with my combo either. I did a perfect one in the warm-up. It should be an easy combination.”

Competition continues Friday with the pairs short program and men’s free skate.

Full results: ISU World Figure Skating Championships 2016