VANCOUVER, Oct. 26 (Xinhua) -- Two-time Olympic champion Yuzuru Hanyu claimed a runaway victory at the ISU Grand Prix of figure skating Skate Canada, beating his closest opponent by 59.82 points in Kelowna on Saturday.
The 24-year-old Japanese star skater collected 322.59 points overall after posting a new personal best of 212.99 with his dazzling free skate routine.
Performing to Art on Ice, Hanyu hit a quadruple Salchow, quadruple toeloop, quadruple toeloop-Euler-triple flip combination, a somewhat wobbly quadruple loop as well as two triple Axels, a triple Lutz and excellent spins and footwork.
Local favorite Nguyen Nam, who skated last as the third-placed short programer, climbed up to take the silver medal with 178.69 point from free skate and 262.77 overall, and Japan's Keiji Tanaka pulled up to claim the bronze medal on 250.02.
On women's part, world junior champion Alexandra Trusova, 15, jumped her way to gold in what was her first ISU Grand Prix event, reeling off a quadruple Lutz, quadruple-triple toeloop, quadruple toeloop-Euler-triple Salchow as well as a triple Lutz-triple loop and a triple flip to earn 166.62 points and piling up 241.02 points in total.
"Overall I am pleased with my performance, I am only upset that I missed the Salchow. It happens in practice quite often that I miss the first jump, but I just pull myself together and carry on," Trusova said.
ISU GP Final champion Rika Kihira of Japan, the overnight leader before Saturday's free skate, was edged to the second place by 10.69 points, while South Korea's You Young earned the bronze in her debut at the senior-level ISU GP.
Olympic silver medalist Evgenia Medvedeva of Russia pulled up from sixth to fifth with a strong free skate performance, and Marin Honda of Japan moved up from tenth to sixth place.
Russian youngsters Aleksandra Boikova/Dmitri Kozlovskii shone in the pairs event for their first GP gold, while Chinese pair Tang Feiyao/Yang Yongchao finished a distance seventh.
Canada's Piper Gilles/Paul Poirier upset two-time world medalists Madison Hubbell/Zachary Donohue of the United States to win their maiden GP ice dance title.
A total of 60 skaters and couples representing 14 ISU members have competed at Skate Canada. The top six qualifiers of the Grand Prix series in each discipline will proceed to the Final in Torino, Italy from December 5 - 8, 2019.
