Chan produces solid third in short program/ Ilyushechkina and Moscovitch a career best sixth at worlds

HELSINKI – Patrick Chan scored a personal best to stand third after the short program in men’s competition while Lubov Ilyushechkina and Dylan Moscovitch were a career-best sixth in pairs.

In the men’s short, two-time defending champion Javier Fernandez of Spain stands first after the short program with 109.05 points. Shoma Uno of Japan is second at 104.86 and Chan posted a personal best 102.13 – the first time he has cracked the 100-point barrier internationally.

Chan, a three-time world champion from Toronto, opened with a quad toe loop- triple toe loop combo and also cleanly executed his triple Axel and triple Lutz.

‘’Breaking 100 points with one quad is huge for me,’’ said Chan. ‘’I didn’t go into it thinking I needed to be first. I just wanted to get the marks I deserved if I put everything on the table.’’

Kevin Reynolds of Coquitlam, B.C., is 12th after producing a clean skate. He opened with a quad Salchow- triple toe combo and followed that up with a quad toe and triple Axel.

‘’I was able to refocus after a not so great warm-up,’’ said Reynolds, who had a 4:20 a.m.  wake-up call for a 6 a.m. practice being in the first group of skaters.  ‘’I trusted my training and turned things around.

‘’I couldn’t be happier with my performance today.’’

In pairs, there was no change in the top-three: Wenjing Sui and Cong Han of China took gold, Aliona Savchenko and Bruno Massot of Germany the silver and Evgenia Tarasova and Vladimir Morozov of Russia the bronze.

Ilyushechkina and Moscovitch remained in sixth spot with a personal best 206.19 points. They were seventh at last year’s worlds and 13th the year before.

‘’We worked hard through that program and the training paid off,’’ said Moscovitch.

‘’We did an amazing job on regrouping and refocusing for this program,’’ added Ilyushechkina. ‘’We were there in moment and worked hard from the beginning until the end.’’

Two-time defending world champions Meagan Duhamel of Lively, Ont., and Eric Radford of Balmertown, Ont., stayed in seventh spot. Radford has been dealing with a hip injury this month.

‘’After the practice this morning I never felt so afraid and unsure,’’ said Radford. ‘’It was very difficult. I was thinking of withdrawing but our team around us gave us the confidence to go out there and try.

‘’Our effort was beyond what we could have expected.’’

Julianne Séguin of Longueuil, Que., and Charlie Bilodeau of Trois-Pistoles, Que., were 11th. Séguin has been dealing with a concussion in the new calendar year.

‘’We felt relief,’’ said Séguin. ‘’We had a really hard year but to finish on a strong note with our program was what we needed.’’

Competition continues Friday with the women’s free skate and the short dance. The men’s free skate is on Saturday.

Full results: http://www.isuresults.com/results/season1617/wc2017/index.htm

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