Olympic champion Hanyu shines at Skate Canada

The Japanese skater put in a stunning display to claim 109.60 points, 20 clear of his nearest rivals to take home the men’s short program gold medal.

That was largely thanks to a level four in the spins for the 2019 world silver medallist, who had opened his routine a quadruple Salchow and a trip Axel.

"It was not so great, but I felt I did my best today. I felt calm, but I am not sure if my calmness led to me being more focused," said Hanyu, gold medallist at the Sochi 2014 and PyeongChang 2018 Olympic Games.

The score was just a point shy of his world-leading 110.53 that he achieved last year, though it was – perhaps surprisingly – his first Skate Canada title.

Silver went to Camden Pulkinen of the United States, taking his place on the podium in what was his Grand Prix debut.

That was despite suffering a nosebleed in his performance, recording a personal best 89.05 in an impressive display.

"After my second spin I felt my nose bleeding," said Camden. "So I don't know if people noticed. If you watch in the end I had a bloody moustache.

"I knew that I had to do it regardless and whether it's a bloody nose or a mistake you kind of have to get past it and focus on the skate at the end of the day."

Home favourite Nam Nguyen took bronze with a score of 84.08, while Deniss Vasiljevs, Keiji Tanaka and Andrei Lazukin rounded off the podium in Canada.

Sportsbeat 2019