Two-time Olympic champion Hanyu into figure skating free skate

Hanyu Yuzuru of Japan performs during the figure skating men single skating short program at Capital Indoor Stadium in Beijing, capital of China, Feb. 8, 2022. (Xinhua/Cao Can)

BEIJING, Feb. 8 (Xinhua) -- Defending champion Yuzuru Hanyu of Japan missed his opening jump attempt to rank eighth after the figure skating short program at Beijing 2022 Olympics here on Tuesday.

Hanyu bungled a quadruple Salchow from the very beginning and collected a mediocre 95.15 points. While his compatriots, Yuma Kagiyama and Shoma Uno both set their season's best, to sit in the second and third place respectively. Nathan Chen of the United States led the men's short program with 113.97 points.

"I didn't feel anything bad until takeoff. When I took off, I was under some hole, maybe [caused by] some other skater's toe [loop] or flip or something," said Hanyu, who hopes to make up the loss in free skating.

"I have one more chance. I have lots of time with the music and many jumps in there, so I [can] be my best," he added.

Two-time world bronze medalist Jin Boyang, the sole skater representing China at Beijing 2022 men's figure skating, finished 11th with 90.98 points.

The 24-year-old Chinese skated to the music of Oscar winner Crouch Tiger, Hidden Dragon again as he had done in PyeongChang four years ago, where he finished fourth.

Jin in a greenish-blue costume presented clean jumps of quadruple Lutz-triple toeloop and quadruple toeloop. However, he touched the ice with a hand after landing an unsteady triple axel and pulled off spins with flaws.

"I'm very satisfied with my performance today. I showed my best and lived up to my efforts," said Jin. "I feel like I'm not just performing a song, but every part of my training over the past four years."

Twenty-four out of 29 skaters are qualified into the free skating event, which will fall on Thursday at the Capital Indoor Stadium.