Spain’s Javier Fernandez, currently ranked first, competes in the men’s short program at the ISU World Figure Skating Championships in Helsinki, Finland. (Getty)
The World Figure Skating Championships began on Wednesday in Helsinki, Finland.
The first day of competition consisted of the women’s and pairs short programs. Today, the men took the ice to compete in the short programs.
Spain’s Javier Fernandez, the two-time defending World champion, leads the men’s field after Thursday’s short program. Fernandez was first with 109.05, landing two quads.
Fernandez executed a flawless short program to “Malaguena,” landing a quadruple toe loop-triple toe loop combination, plus a quad salchow.
Japan’s Shoma Uno is second with 104.86 points while Canada’s Patrick Chan is in third with 102.13.
The top U.S. skater was Nathan Chen who placed sixth with 97.33.
Here’s a look at the leaderboard ahead of Saturday’s free skate:
1 Javier FERNANDEZ ESP 109.05
2 Shoma UNO JPN 104.86
3 Patrick CHAN CAN 102.13
4 Boyang JIN CHN 98.64
5 Yuzuru HANYU JPN 98.39
6 Nathan CHEN USA 97.33
7 Mikhail KOLYADA RUS 93.28
8 Jason BROWN USA 93.10
9 Denis TEN KAZ 90.18
10 Maxim KOVTUN RUS 89.38
11 Alexei BYCHENKO ISR 85.28
12 Kevin REYNOLDS CAN 84.44
13 Brendan KERRY AUS 83.11
14 Deniss VASILJEVS LAT 81.73
15 Michal BREZINA CZE 80.02
16 Misha GE UZB 79.91
17 Chafik BESSEGHIER FRA 78.82
18 Alexander MAJOROV SWE 77.23
19 Moris KVITELASHVILI GEO 76.34
20 Paul FENTZ GER 73.89
21 Jorik HENDRICKX BEL 73.68
22 Keiji TANAKA JPN 73.45
23 Julian Zhi Jie YEE MAS 69.74
24 Michael Christian MARTINEZ PHI 69.32