Tallinn (AFP) - South Korean champion Cha Jun-hwan hit a new personal best score in the men's short programme to take the lead at the ISU Four Continents Figure Skating Championships Friday in Tallinn.
Performing to "Fate of the Clockmaker" and "Cloak and Dagger", both by Eternal Eclipse, the 20-year-old from Seoul nailed his jumps including a quadruple Salchow to score 98.96 points.
Coached by Canadian two-time Olympic medallist Brian Orser, Cha leads Japanese duo Kazuki Tomono (97.10) and Kao Miura (88.37) going into Sunday's free skating final.
Most of the top skaters from Asia and North America have opted to skip the competition, which takes place just two weeks before the Beijing Olympics, because of the Covid-19 pandemic.
China have not sent a team to Estonia.
"I know it's a hard time, but I'm really always trying my best and especially at competitions I want to give good energy to my fans and more love to the audience.This is my goal for now," said Cha, who took bronze in the NHK Trophy in Japan.
Tomono, a bronze medallist in the Grand Prix Rostelecom Cup, set a new personal best for his performance to the music from the film "Cinema Paradiso".
Miura, 16, competing in his first ISU Championship, held his nerve in his performance to "Winter" from Verdi's "Four Seasons," improving his previous personal best by 12 points.
"I was really nervous.My legs were shaking like a newborn deer Bambi.Despite all the tension, I was able to put everything out there," said the Japanese Junior champion.
In ice dancing, Caroline Green and Michael Parsons of the United States led Japan's Kana Muramoto and Daisuke Takahashi going into Friday night's free dance final.
