China’s Han Yan took a conservative route but still destroyed the competition at the Youth Olympic Games today, winning the free skate and the gold medal in the men’s event. The Chinese made it two for two, with Xiaoyu Yu and Yang Jin taking the gold in the pairs’ event earlier in the day.
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Yan opted to leave out his quad toe and his triple axel in the free skate. And though he took a fall on his second triple lutz, he hit six clean triples for a final total of 192.45, over 35 points ahead of the rest of the field.
Japan’s Shoma Uno pulled up from sixth with five triples in his free skate to take the silver, overtaking Russia’s Feodosi Efremenkov, who opened with two falls on his triple axel attempts but recovered to also land five triples. Though he was fifth in the free skate, Efremenkov was able to stay on the podium and capture the bronze.
Prior to the men’s event, the first-ever Youth Olympics medals were awarded in figure skating after the pairs took the ice for their free skates. Yang and Jin won the gold with a strong skate that featured a strong throw triple loop and throw triple salchow near the end of their program. They outskated the rest of the pairs by far, with much more difficult elements than the other four pairs.
Rounding out the podium were two Russian pairs. Lina Fedorova and Maxim Miroshkin took the silver with their teammates, Anastasia Dolidze and Vadim Ivanov winning the bronze. Americans Caitlin Belt and Michael Johnson were fourth.
MEN (final standings)
1. Han Yan CHN – 192.45
2. Shoma Uno JPN – 167.15
3. Feodosi Efremenkov RUS – 163.46
4. June Hyoung Lee KOR – 160.99
5. Niko Ulanovsky GER – 158.47
6. Shu Nakamura JPN – 154.22
7. Michael Christian Martinez PHI – 151.60
8. Timofei Novaikin FRA – 147.23
9. Yaroslav Paniot UKR – 132.55
10. Nicola Todeschini SUI – 128.98
11. Tino Olenius FIN – 127.12
12. Carlo Vittorio Palermo ITA – 125.55
13. John-Olof Hallman SWE – 120.12
14. Alexander Lyan KAZ – 95.87
15. Manuel Drechsler AUT – 85.08
16. Timothee Manand BEL – 83.26
PAIRS (final standings)
1. Xiaoyu Yu/Yang Jin CHN – 153.82
2. Lina Fedorova/Maxim Miroshkin RUS – 134.19
3. Anastasia Dolidze/Vadim Ivanov RUS – 112.72
4. Caitlin Belt/Michael Johnson USA – 109.61
5. Ielizaveta Usmantseva/Vladislav Lysoy UKR – 95.35
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