Kolyada dominant in short program at Cup of China

Nov 3, 2017 | 1:15 PM

BEIJING — Canada’s Gabrielle Daleman was in first place after Friday’s women’s short program at the Cup of China, the third event of the International Skating Union’s Grand Prix series.

Skating to Carmen, Daleman opened with a triple toeloop and added a triple lutz and a double axel for 70.65 points. The 19-year-old from Newmarket, Ont., was less than a point ahead of Wakaba Higuchi of Japan and Elena Radionova of Russia.

”I was very happy with how today went,” said Daleman. ”It’s another stepping stone in a long season and it’s a great way to start my year on the Grand Prix. There’s lots more to improve and I can’t wait to keep building on it.”

Russian skater Mikhail Kolyada upstaged two-time world champion Javier Fernandez to take the lead after the men’s short program. Kolyada turned in a near flawless routine that featured a quad lutz, a quad-toeloop-triple toeloop and a triple axel for a personal-best 103.13 points.

Fernandez had only one quad jump and stepped out of a triple axel to finish third. Boyang Jin of China was in second and Keiji Tanaka of Japan was fourth.

Kevin Reynolds of Coquitlam, B.C., was 10th.

China stood 1-2 in pairs with Wenjing Sui and Cong Han in first after the short program, ahead of Xiaoyu Yu and Hao Zhang. Nicole Della Monica and Matteo Guarise of Italy were third and Kirsten Moore-Towers of St. Catharines, Ont., and Michael Marinaro of Sarnia, Ont., were fourth.

”I have mixed feelings about the performance,” said Moore-Towers. ”We had some good elements and had some uncharacteristic mistakes. We need to get our levels up a little bit. But it’s a solid step in the right direction.”

In ice dance, two-time world champions Gabriella Papadakis and Guillaume Cizeron of France led after the short program. Madison Chock and Evan Bates of the United States were second, followed by the Russian duo of Ekaterina Bobrova and Dmitri Soloviev.

The Grand Prix series consists of six events and culminates in the ISU Grand Prix of Figure Skating Final in Nagoya, Japan, in December — the last competition featuring the world’s top skaters before the Olympics.

Competition ends Saturday with the free skate.

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With files from The Canadian Press.

The Associated Press