Japanese teenager wins historic gold in figure skating

Sochi: Yuzuru Hanyu became the youngest Olympic men’s figure skating champion in 66 years when he won Japan’s first ever title in the discipline on a day when Sochi temperatures soared and reputations crashed.

Hanyu, 19, took gold despite falling twice in the free skate, his performance aided by a world record short programme 24 hours earlier and the inability of rival, three-time world champion Patrick Chan to stay on his feet.

Denis Ten moved up from ninth after the short programme to take a first skating bronze for Kazakhstan.

“I’m so surprised. I can’t find the words. It was such a difficult programme for me and I felt rough, physically. I’m just shocked. I’m so proud of this feat as a Japanese,” said Hanyu, the youngest champion since American Dick Button in 1948.

Hanyu sealed his historic victory with his free skate to Nino Rota’s “Romeo and Juliet” in front of a capacity crowd at the Iceberg Skating Palace, forgetting for the moment the absence of Russian star Yevgeny Plushenko.

Carrying a 3.93-point lead in from the short programme Hanyu scored 178.64 for the free skate, despite a two-point deduction, for an overall total of 280.09 as Japan celebrated their first gold in Sochi.

Chan, 23, achieved 178.10 to take silver after stumbling through Vivaldi’s “Four Seasons” and “Concerto Grosso” for an overall total of 275.62.

“Of course, it’s a chance missed,” said Chan. “But just because I missed that opportunity today doesn’t define my career, it doesn’t change the fact that I’m still one of the best figure skaters in the world.”

Swiss outsider Sandro Viletta won men’s super combined ski gold as the big Alpine ski stars again failed to fire.

World champion Ted Ligety could only finish 12th while French tyro Alexis Pinturault crashed out of the afternoon slalom when well-placed on the mountain course at Rosa Khutor.

As temperatures nudged 14 degrees Celsius (59 degrees Fahrenheit), Viletta, 14th after the morning downhill, swept down the increasingly slushy course to post a winning time of 2 minutes 45.20 seconds.

Croatian veteran Ivica Kostelic (2:45.54) won his third consecutive Olympic silver in the event while Italy’s Christof Innerhofer won bronze to add to his second place in the downhill.

Victory for Viletta — who has not had a single World Cup podium finish in the event — came just two days after compatriot Dominique Gisin won a shock gold in the women’s downhill.

“This is amazing. It’s perfect. It’s also a big shock. I didn’t think I would come first. I’m so happy,” said the 28-year-old.

Just as the likes of Ligety, Pinturault and Bode Miller flopped in the mountains, the once sky-high reputation of Russian figure skating icon Plushenko plummeted as the day progressed.

The 31-year-old double Olympic champion had retired on Thursday after a back injury forced him to quit the men’s final.

But there was frustration that the fragile veteran had not pulled out after winning gold in the team competition last weekend, which would have allowed Russia to field a replacement in the men’s event.

“It was a lamentable spectacle,” Russian figure skating legend and three-time Olympic gold medallist Irina Rodnina told Sovietsky Sport.