Japan’s Daisuke Murakami grabbed a narrow lead on Friday in the men’s competition at Skate Canada to upstage the Olympic rematch of Yuzuru Hanyu and Patrick Chan at the ISU Grand Prix event in Lethbridge, Alberta.
Murakami earned 80.88 points for his opening short program, with Canada’s Chan close behind on 80.81 in his return to competition for the first time since he took silver at last year’s Winter Olympics in Sochi, Russia, behind Hanyu.
American Adam Rippon completed a tightly bunched top trio on 80.36 points with Hanyu shockingly in sixth on 73.25.
Photo: Reuters
Hanyu paid the price for doubling a quadruple toe loop, which under new rules this season meant he earned no points for the jump.
He also turned a triple lutz-triple toe loop into a triple-double, so that, because of the repeated double toe, the entire element was invalidated.
On a night when all the top men made mistakes, last season’s NHK Trophy winner Murakami came out on top.
Chan led off his routine with a stellar quadruple-triple combination, but he fell on a triple axel and doubled a triple lutz, for which he received no points.
Out of synch, he finished after his music had ended.
“This program is so challenging,” Chan said. “I’m walking a fine line between a highly difficult program transition-wise and [in terms of] character, and it becomes challenging.”
Ashley Wagner seized a commanding lead in the ladies’ competition with a short program packed with clean jumps.
The American recorded a personal best short program score of 70.73 to lead her nearest rival, Japan’s Yuka Nagai, by 7.38 points going into yesterday’s free skate.
“I’m beyond ecstatic,” she said after her routine to Hip Hip Chin Chin. “That was everything I know I am capable of as an athlete.”
The shock of the night was Elizaveta Tuktamisheva, the reigning world champion from Russia, whose error-strewn performance left her in seventh place.
Tuktamisheva doubled her planned triple axel and also flubbed her triple toe loop-triple toe loop combination.
Even more costly was doubling a triple lutz, the errors giving her a score of just 55.37 points.
While she struggled, 16-year-old Nagai — in her first Grand Prix competition — made the most of her debut on the sport’s big stage.
She landed a lovely triple lutz-triple toe loop combination and a triple loop in a routine that garnered 63.35 points.
Nagai had a solid lead over third-placed compatriot Kanako Murukami, whose 59.79 points left her just 0.58 points ahead of Canadian Kaetlyn Osmond.
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