TOKYO – Daisuke Takahashi beat two-time world champion Patrick Chan of Canada in the free skate as Japan maintained its lead in World Team Trophy figure skating on Friday.
Takahashi, the silver medallist at the worlds, led Chan after the short program and received a season-best 182.72 points in Friday’s free skate to finish first overall with 276.72 points. His only mistake was underrotating a triple toeloop.
“It was my last performance of the season and I put everything into it,” Takahashi said. “It was great to help my team, and beating Patrick will give me a lot of confidence for next season.”
Chan fell on his second quadruple toeloop and finished second in the free skate with 170.65 points and second overall with 260.46. Florent Amodio of France was third with 156.49.
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It was the first time Chan has not won a major event since the Cup of Russia in 2010.
“You win some and you lose some,” Chan said. “It was a great season for me, I had a lot of success. This is a great result for Daisuke, he was under more pressure here than anyone else.”
Japan leads the team standings with 59 points, followed by the United States with 51 and France on 44.
In ice dancing, world silver medallists Meryl Davis and Charlie White of the United States won with 183.36 points, beating world champions Tessa Virtue and Scott Moir of Canada, who had 177.76. Nathalie Pechalat and Fabian Bourzat of France were third with 167.83.
Narumi Takahashi and Mervin Tran of Japan were first in the pair’s short program, earning 64.92 points. Vera Bazarova and Yuri Larionov of Russia were second with 62.02 while Stefinia Berton and Ondrej Hotarek of Italy were third with 59.28.
The U.S. won the inaugural World Team Trophy in 2009 in Tokyo. Figure skating’s team event will make its Olympic debut in 2014 in Sochi, Russia.
Each team consists of two women, two men, one pair and one ice dancing couple. The competition finishes on Sunday with the pairs free skate and the women’s free skate.
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