Canada’s Nam Nguyen wins bronze medal at Skate America

CHICAGO – World junior champion Nam Nguyen of Toronto landed a quadruple Salchow and two triple Axels to post a personal best score and win the bronze medal in men’s competition on Saturday night at Skate America.

The competition is the opening stop on the ISU Grand Prix figure skating circuit.

Tatsuki Machida of Japan took the gold medal with 269.09 points, Jason Brown of the U.S. was second at 234.17 and Nguyen followed at 232.24 in his senior Grand Prix debut.

Nguyen, 16, roared into his program to music from La Strada packing in the quad and two triple Axels –including one in combination, in the first minute. He added five more triples including a beautiful Lutz to cap the program.

The medal was a bit of a surprise for Nguyen who was seventh after the short program on Friday.

‘’I didn’t have a great week of training so it’s nice to finish like this with a satisfying performance,’’ said Nguyen who is coached by Brian Orser. ‘’The start of my program is important but I know I still have the rest of the program to focus on.’’

Nguyen landed the quad Salchow for the first time last week in a silver medal performance at Skate Canada’s Autumn International in Barrie, Ont.

‘’I felt today’s jump had a lot more power in it and I’m looking forward to doing it again at my next competition.’’

The Americans were 1-2 in ice dancing. Madison Chock and Evan Bates won the gold medal with 171.03 points and Maia Shibutani and Alex Shibutani were second at 160.33. Russians Alexandra Stepanova and Ivan Bukin were third at 143.87.

Élisabeth Paradis of Loretteville, Que., and François-Xavier Ouellette of Laval, Que., climbed from eighth after the short dance to fourth at 137.30 in their senior Grand Prix debut. Nicole Orford of Burnaby, B.C., and Thomas Williams of Okotoks, Alta., were eighth.

In pairs after the short program, Vanessa Grenier of Sherbrooke, Que., and Maxime Deschamps of Vaudreuil-Dorion, Que., are sixth.

Canada has no entries in women’s competition.

The pairs and women’s free skates are on Sunday.

Full results: http://www.isuresults.com/results/gpusa2014/index.htm