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 10^th 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