Snowsports: Fernandez' artistic style secures gold

Nicholas Fernandez
Nicholas Fernandez
Nicholas Fernandez prides himself on his artistic creations on the ice and it came up trumps at the Winter Games figure skating on Saturday.

The Australian won the men's open title with 125.06 points from Cameron Hems (Auckland) on 120.11 and Andrew Dodds (Australia) on 111.43.

His artistic programme component score of 55.98 points was a personal best by 10 points and it made the difference.

He beat Hems by six points in this phase and it was the key to him winning the gold medal.

Fernandez supported his routine with Spanish music and it worked for him.

"I tried to make the routine long, masculine and powerful and it worked for me," he said.

But the power he put into his routine did cause some mishaps and he fell three times during his free skating routine.

"I put too much power into the jump and slipped off the ice," Fernandez said.

The slip-ups were caused by a sense of complacency that crept into his routine.

"I became too carefree with the jumps," he said. "I had never fallen with those jumps in competition before."

His jumps were generally of a high standard except when he ascended off his toes. That is when he fell.

It was a high quality technical performance that was highlighted by accurate transition steps, great speed, soft knees and great expression.

It was a promising performance for his first competitive outing in 18 months. He competes in the Eight Rinks competition in Vancouver next weekend.

Hems (20), who finished third in the event at the Winter Games two years ago, had his best international score when he won the silver medal.

He performed for his grandfather, Charles Hems, who died of cancer a week earlier at the age of 81.

"I didn't want to come because he was so sick but he told me to come to Dunedin and skate for him," Hems said.

Hems has been skating for 10 years but this was his best performance.

He based his free skating routine on a tango and he timed his jumps to perfection for a free skating score of 83.52 points.

Technically he had good expression and skated in time with the music.

Min Jeong Kwak (South Korea) was a convincing winner of the senior women's title with a score of 125.89 points.

Morgan Figgins (Dunedin) was runner-up with 86.65 points and Zara Pasfield (Australia) third with 79.73.

Kwak (17), who finished third at the Winter Olympics in Vancouver last year, based her free skating routine on can can music and scored 40.35 points on her technical skills and 43.72 points on her programme components.

Her fast footwork and linking steps were a feature of her routine. She had an efficient flow into the transitions and her spins were of a high quality.

In two weeks, Kwak will contest the Asian Trophy in China.

Figgins (19) tore her groin and abductor on the ice on Thursday and was in severe pain during the competition.

But she was still able to demonstrate speed and flow on the ice. The spin was her strong point.

She was fourth at the Winter Games two years ago.

 

 

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