Canadian figure skater Patrick Chan has won the Four Continents championships in Colorado Springs, beating Evgeny Plushenko’s winning score from the European Championships.
Chan skated two quads on his way to a season-best score of 185.99 in the free skate, giving him a total score of 273.94, far ahead of second-placed Daisuke Takahashi on 244.33.
Plushenko scored a personal best of 176.52 in the free skate on his way to a total score of 261.23 in Sheffield last month to win his seventh European title following a long absence from the sport due to injury and suspension.
The Four Continents competition, which admits skaters from anywhere in the world except Europe, was 21-year-old Chan’s last major test before the World Championships start in Nice, France on March 26.
Plushenko, 29, will not compete in Nice and will not skate against Chan this season.
The current scoring system for figure skating was introduced in 2004 and focuses on individual elements of the program, in part to allow scores to be compared between competitions, although there is still some variation between individual judges.
