Barcelona - Arab Today
Japan's Yuzuru Hanyu defended his ISU Grand Prix Final title despite a fall in the free skate in the elite six-skater event in Barcelona on Saturday.
The 20-year-old Olympic and world champion led all the way to win with an overall total of 288.16 -- almost 35 points ahead of his Spanish training partner Javier Fernandez who took silver with 253.90.
Russia's Sergei Voronov took bronze with 244.53.
Japanese hopes of a 1-2 were crushed when Tatsuki Machida, who had been second after Friday's short programme, finished last after an error-strewn free skate.
Hanyu, who had a scare early in the season when he suffered head injuries competing in the Cup of China, also fell during Friday night's short programme but had nevertheless carried a 6.26-point overnight lead on Machida.
Fernandez, 23, who trains with Hanyu under Canadian coach Brian Orser in Toronto, profitted from the errors of his rivals to move up from fifth.
Hanyu landed two quad jumps in his free skate to Andrew Lloyd Webber's 'The Phantom of the Opera'.
But he lost his focus towards the end of the programme bizarrely falling on his final triple lutz jump.
Source: AFP