THE CANADIAN PRESS
MISSISSAUGA, Ont. — Canada’s Patrick Chan began the defence of his world figure skating championship with a come-from-behind win at Skate Canada International.
Chan was third after the men’s short program Friday but his free-skating program Saturday, was good enough, even with a fall and a stumble, to take gold and the $18,000 first prize.
Javier Fernandez of Spain, the leader after the short program, took silver and $13,000 and Japan’s Daisuke Takahashi won bronze and $9,000.
Chan got 253.74 points overall, Fernandez 250.33 and Takahashi 237.87.
Earlier in this Grand Prix meet at the Hershey Centre, 14-year-old Russian Elizaveta Tuktamisheva became the youngest women’s singles gold medallist in the event’s history since Toronto’s Tracey Wainman won at age 13 in 1981 in Ottawa.
Tuktamisheva amassed 177.38 points. She was second to Japan’s Akiko Suzuki in the free skating. Suzuki finished with 172.26 overall, while Ashley Wagner of the United States was third in the free and third overall with 165.48.
In pairs, world silver medallists Tatiana Volosozhar and Maxim Trankov of Russia were first in both the short and the free at 201.38. Sui Wenjing and Han Cong of China rallied from fourth in the short to second in the free for 180.82.
Megan Duhamel of Lively, Ont., and Eric Radford of Toronto were second in the short and third in the long and earned bronze.
Chan fell on his first jump, a quadruple toe loop, but the mere attempt was worth a pile of points. He followed with another quad toe and it was bang-on. He tacked on a triple toe to make it a combo to drive home the reality that he is the best free skater in the world.
The 20-year-ld Torontonian stumbled on a footwork sequence, too, but his overall skills were better than those of his competitors.
Fernandez, 19, laid down two quads, and Takahashi, 25, offered one off-balance quad that earned him fewer marks than Chan got with the one he fell on.
"I made an extra effort to stay relaxed today and it felt good," Chan said. "My (free-skating) program is so brand new that my breathing pattern is not there yet."
Andrei Rogozine, 18, of Richmond Hill, Ont., finished seventh with 193.40. It was his first senior Grand Prix meet for the former world junior champ. He had a poor landing on an Axel but jammed in seven other clean triples.
"It was a learning experience," he said. "It opens a door for me. I’ve learned what it’s all about now."
Amelie Lacoste, 22, of Delson, Que., was sixth in women’s singles with 146.40 and Canadian champion Cynthia Phaneuf, 23, of Brossard, Que., was seventh with 140.70.
In the women’s event, Tuktamisheva won in her first senior Grand Prix appearance.
"I didn’t feel a big difference," she said through an interpreter when asked about stepping up from junior. "I try not to think of the importance of the competition."
The International Skating Union is allowing her to compete at the highest level this season although she won’t be old enough to be ineligible to skate for the senior world championship until 2013. Her composure belies her age. By 2014 in Sochi, Russia, she hopes to skate for Olympic gold.
"I’m trying not to show everything that is inside,"’ she said. "Even if I’m nervous, I try to hide it. I try to approach everything calmly. There is pressure but I try not to pay attention to that too much. I just try to do my job."
Her technical elements were solid — she’s an excellent jumper — and she displayed an artistic flair beyond the grasp of most of the older skaters.
Suzuki, 26, moved up from being fourth after the short program thanks to a polished long program.
Wagner, 20, showed she’s well on the way back to prominence. She was only world championship appearance was in 2008 when she was 16th. She was sixth at the 2011 U.S. nationals.
"I was so happy with what I put out there," she said. "I was very satisfied, with the exception my Lutz."’
She fell on a Lutz midway through her program; the jump has been a hard one for her to land as she’s been suffering with tendinitis in the landing foot. Everything else was impressive in her Black Swan routine.
Lacoste was third in Canada and 16th in the world last season so finishing ahead of Phaneuf, who was 13th in the world, was important as she aims to win the national title this season. Lacoste went around only twice on a scheduled triple Lutz, once on a planned triple flip and twice on a planned triple Salchow.
"I’m disappointed because I missed three big jumps," she said. "I’m usually doing at least five triples in my program. I wasn’t my best but it was a good experience and it’s just the start of the season."
Phaneuf crashed to the ice trying to land a triple loop and doubled out on two other planned triples. She had opened her program with a triple Lutz, which is the jump that has troubled her the most.
"I wanted to go out there and land the triple Lutz and I was able to do it so easily," she said. "Then I thought about not making any mistakes, but I just didn’t attack enough."
A hip injury has interrupted her training schedule.
"I wasn’t putting too much pressure on myself coming here," she said.
Rachael Flatt, No. 2 in the U.S. and 12th in the world, had the worst skate of the day. She fell twice. She was third after the short program but was last in the long and last overall among 10.
"That performance can be attributed to not being quite trained yet and not having that confidence in my training and my long so far," said the 19-year-old. "I need to trust my training a bit more and rely on my experience more. I am a seasoned competitor. That, unfortunately, didn’t show in my skating here. I’ll learn from it and move on. We all have tough performances, and that was pretty tough. I’ll be better."
Teammate Mirai Nagasu, 18 and No. 3 in the U.S., finished fifth.
Adriana Desanctis, 23, of Barrie, Ont., No. 5 in Canada, finished ninth.
Elladj Balde, 20, of Pierrefonds, Que., was 10th and last in men’s singles.