Weaver, Poje keep ice dance title at Grand Prix Final

Olympic champion Yuzuru Hanyu of Japan broke his own points record for a men’s short program to take the lead of the Grand Prix Final on Thursday.

Hanyu, 21, had achieved world bests in all three just over two weeks ago in the NHK Trophy in Nagano, becoming the first skater to break the mythical 300-point mark.

The skater from Sendai was reduced to tears as he watched his scores appear following his emotional skate to the Japanese movie soundtrack “Seimei” by Shigeru Umebayashi.

Synchronized skating made its debut at the Grand Prix Final and world champions Nexxice from Burlington, Ont., won the bronze medal with 120.34 points.

“I messed up”, said Chan.

“I felt very nervous before”.

“I was surprised too”, admitted Hanyu, after an exquisite performance to Chopin’s Ballade No. 1 which included two perfectly executed quadruple jumps and a triple axel.

“I don’t feel absolutely majestic yet”.

Looking back, the three-time world champion from Toronto wishes he had had the chance to complete that competition.

The 2015 world silver medallist achieved a new personal best 140.09 points and moved up from fourth to second with 208.85.

Canadian pair Kaitlyn Weaver/Andrew Poje are on top of Short Dance in Ice Dancing. “It has never happened on the short program to us, and we will do it well tomorrow”.

“I’m glad I pulled out this free skate in this competition to show people that I can skate really well and clean”.

Olympic silver medallists Stolbova and Klimov took their first major title with the second best score ever of 154.60 in the free programme for an overall total of 229.44 in Barcelona.

Russia’s Evgenia Medvedeva competes during Ladies Short program at the ISU Grand Prix of Figure …

The 2015-16 Grand Prix Final, the prestigious cumulative event of the ISU Grand Prix of Figure Skating series, concluded December 12 in Barcelona with the last three event finals.

Skating on the same rink in Barcelona, this year’s junior world champion coasted through her routine to Rene Aubry’s “Allegro”.

Meagan Duhamel and Eric Radford of Canada, the defending champions, had to settle for silver, despite a personal best 143.93 in the free skate and 216.67 overall. The main difference (this year) is the huge ovation I got from the crowd.

The Skate Canada and Cup of Russian Federation winners posted a season’s best 72.75 points for their waltz and polka selection to the music of Johann Strauss.

Japanese star Mao Asada, 25, had been third after the short program but finished last in the elite six-skater field after an error-strewn free skate. “I thought I could do what I could, and I ended up performing quite well”.

Americans Ashley Wagner and Gracie Gold finished fourth and fifth respectively.