The US’ Vincent Zhou on Thursday won gold at the International Skating Union (ISU) World Junior Figure Skating Championships.
The 16-year-old from Palo Alto, California, soared from fifth place with a brilliant free skate that included three quadruple jumps. His performance earned him 179.24 points in the long program and 258.11 points overall.
The US seniors silver medalist beat out three Russians.
Photo: EPA
Skating to the soundtrack from Casablanca, Zhou hit a quadruple lutz, quad salchow-triple salchow, another quad salchow, two triple axels and four more triple jumps.
He also received level 4 marks for footwork in a sensational routine.
“The gap between first and fifth after the short program wasn’t that big, so I knew it wasn’t anything I couldn’t overcome,” Zhou said. “I just took the free skate element by element. It feels great to come from behind and kind of top off the field like that.”
Russia’s Dmitri Aliev and Alexander Samarin finished second and third respectively.
Zhou previously won the 2011 US intermediate title and the 2012 novice championship and was the US junior champion in 2013.
He is to compete for a spot on the US Olympic team in January next year for the 2018 Winter Games.
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