Assago, Italy • American skaters Nathan Chen and Vincent Zhou both finished in the top three in the men's short program at the world figure skating championships on Thursday after a critical error by the Olympic silver medalist.
Chen, the Salt Lake City star, neatly vanquished ghosts of the Olympic short program to finish first going into the final free, while Zhou was one of the few skaters to outdo his Olympic performance to place third in the technically loaded short program.
Mikhail Kolyada of Russia was in second place, splitting the Americans with a program he simplified after the Pyeongchang Games.
After bombing the short in South Korea, Chen wanted to redeem himself at the worlds.
"Ultimately, I am glad with what I did," Chen said.
The U.S. champion hit two quads, one in combination, but the landings were a little off and he was marked slightly down. Still, the 101.94 score was enough to lead the short program and a huge improvement on the 82.27 from the Olympics, though still shy of his personal best.
Zhou hit a clean quad-lutz-triple toe, adding difficulty with two arms overhead on the second jump, and a perfectly executed quad flip, earning additional points for execution. The 17-year-old Zhou, who is the youngest in the field, added more than 10 points to his personal best for a score of 96.78.
"I came here to skate a clean program. I did just that," Zhou said. "And finishing in the top three is icing on the cake."
Two favorites, Shomo Uno of Japan and Jin Boyang of China, skated error-prone programs but remained well within striking distance of the podium.
Uno, the only male Olympic medalist at the worlds, missed a triple-triple combo, tacking on a double after a step out. He finished in fifth despite a huge quad and triple axel. Jin nearly landed on the boards after an under-rotated quad, finishing in fourth going into the final free on Saturday.
The pairs title will be decided later Thursday with Olympic champions Aliona Sevchenko and Bruno Massot leading after the short program.