4CCs: Men short program

Yuzuru Hanyu (JPN) opened beautifully with a gorgoeus quad toe and triple axel, but then singled out a triple lutz with a triple toe that received a -3 GOE. However his performance was very good and if he completed the combo as planned, he would have scored another world record. He scored the best components score of the competition, about 2 points ahead of Takahashi. 87.65

Yan (CHN) is having one of his first important competitions as a senior. He opened with a huge triple axel, a good quad toe. He gave one of his best perfomances today, nailing all his jumping passes, including a triple lutz-triple toe in the second half, in which he is usually inconsistant, and interpreting majestically despite his young age. 85.08

Richard Dornbush (USA) entered as substitute of Adam Rippon who withdrew due to injury. He had a solid short program, hitting a gorgeous quad toe, preceeded by good steps, a nice and high triple lutz-triple toe. He just struggled on his triple axel's landing touching down. His program was very pleasant to watch, filled with interesting transitions and good spins. He scored 83.01.

Daisuke Takahashi (JPN) debuted his new short program choreographed by Morozov. He stepped out of the quad toe and fell on the triple axel but nailed a triple lutz-triple toe combo in the second half. He skated a superb step sequence but the mistakes at the beginning spoiled the performance. 82.62

After a disappoining and troubled fall season, Nan Song (CHN) was really on today and provided the Chinese record for this segment (just before Han Yan had skated). He was perfect on his jumps, nailing a quad toe-triple toe, a triple axel and a triple lutz later in the program. 81.16

Kevin Reynolds (CAN) tried two quads, a opening salchow in combo with a triple toe and one toe in the second half, bu they were both under rotated. He also succeded in the triple axel, that is usually a hard jump for him.  78.34

Denis Ten (KAZ) decided to not include a quad in his short program. He was almost clean, landing a triple axel, a triple flip-triple toe with a slight step out and a triple lutz in the second half. He did spins and steps of an exeptional quality, especially his camel spin where his flexibility shows off. 78.05

Takahito Mura (JPN), winner of the Trophee Eric Bompard, was the first of the three Japanese skating today. He landed a quad toe-triple toe with a hand down and step out (he was very close to the board), but went clean on his triple axel and triple lutz. 78.03

Ross Miner (USA) had an opening double salchow (planned to be a quad) as major mistake. Then he nailed his triple axel and triple lutz-triple toe. 74.01

Max Aaron (USA) opened with an amazing quad salchow in combo with a double toe not perfectly landed. His performance was partly ruined by a fall on the triple axel later in the program. 72.46