ISU World Figure Skating Championships 2019: Men's Singles, Ice Dancing Results
March 23, 2019
Nathan Chen won back-to-back gold medals at the 2019 Figure Skating Championships on Saturday and topped the scores in the men's free skate to defend his status as the top talent on the planet.
Chen, of the United States, led the scoreboard following the short program, and his pristine free skate stunned as he defended his trophy in style at the Saitama Super Arena in Saitama, Japan.
Home crowd favourite Yuzuru Hanyu skated to second place, while the United States also caught the bronze medal after Vincent Zhou rose up to third following the free skate.
Earlier in the day, Gabriella Papadakis and Guillaume Cizeron of France glided to their fourth ice dancing world championship in five years after finishing strongly in the free dance.
Madison Hubbell and Zachary Donohue of the United States did enough to sneak onto the podium and take bronze, though the Russian duo of Victoria Sinitsina and Nikita Katsalapov clinched silver.
Visit ISU results to view Saturday's final scoreboards in full.
Recap
In what was an improved skate on the one that netted him gold in Milan last year, Chen sent the Saitama Super Arena into hysterics with his display.
Chen's performance comprised a triple lutz triple toe loop, triple salchow and triple toe, triple toe loop combination, all of which helped build his score to an impressive season's best of 216.02.
The 19-year-old pipped past last year's winning score and ended on 323.42 overall, more than 22 points above silver medallist Hanyu, per commentator Nick McCarvel:
Nick McCarvel @NickMcCarvelStatz: --Nathan Chen becomes the first U.S. 🇺🇸 man to successfully defend his #WorldFigure gold since Scott Hamilton in 1983-84. --It's the first time since '96 that two U.S. men are on the worlds podium. --This is a first world medal for Vincent Zhou https://t.co/XhyTmke0SQ
The Japanese audience let their star know what they thought of his final skate by littering the rink with Winnie the Pooh figures:
A more refined free skate might have seen Jason Brown keep his place in the top three and become part of an American clean sweep following a season's best in the short program that pulled him up to second. It wasn't to be, though, and a second-round score of 157.34 meant he dropped to ninth.
Elsewhere, Papadakis and Cizeron built on what was a remarkable start in the pairs ice dancing and flourished once more in the free dance to pick up another pair of world championships golds, per McCarvel:
Their free dance earned a mark of 134.23—at least six points more than any other score handed out—and their overall score ended up leaving daylight between them and the competition.
This was arguably the French pair's most dominant run to the top prize at a world championships so far. Canadian duo Tessa Virtue and Scott Moir are the only team to prevent them from winning gold in ice dancing since 2015.
Sinitsina and Katsalapov held second heading into the final day, and Americans Hubbell and Donohue should be pleased with their last-gasp run to seal the bronze. They were the first pair to break the 127-point mark in Saturday's free skate (127.31) and were a little more than one point from silver.