SHANGHAI (AP) – Yuzuru Hanyu’s free skate at the Cup of China began with a scary crash with another skater in warm-ups that left him on his back on the ice, gasping for air and with blood streaming across his neck and face from a cut on his chin.
Visibly shaken and with gauze wrapped around his head, the reigning Olympic and world champion from Japan decided to stay in the competition and struggled through his program, falling five times.
He nearly won the title anyway.
Maxim Kovtun of Russia landed just enough jumps to take the gold with 243.34 points, less than six points ahead of Hanyu in second (237.55).
Hanyu was skating backward at a high speed during the warm-ups when he collided with defending champion Yan Han of China and went down hard on the ice. He lay for several seconds on his back before being helped up and receiving treatment from doctors.