Japan’s Yuzuru Hanyu broke his own record and won the men’s short program at the Sochi Games on a night four-time Olympic medalist Evgeni Plushenko retired from competitive skating.
About two hours after Plushenko withdrew with a back injury Thursday, Hanyu became the first figure skater to ever surpass the 100-point mark with a spectacular routine that earned him 101.45.
That gave him nearly a four-point lead over three-time world champion Patrick Chan of Canada. Two-time European champion Javier Fernandez of Spain was third. American Jason Brown was sixth. US champion Jeremy Abbott had a hard fall and is in 15th.
No Asian, Canadian or Spanish man has ever won Olympic figure skating gold. The top 24 skaters in the short program advanced to Friday’s free skate.
Highlights from the routine
Evgeni Plushenko retires
From wild cheers to stunned silence, the Sochi Olympics said goodbye Thursday to one of figure skating’s all-time greats.
Evgeni Plushenko, the first figure skater in the modern era to win medals in four Olympics, retired from competitive figure skating shortly after withdrawing from the men’s competition for medical reasons. The Russian said he injured himself during practice on Wednesday, then fell on a triple axel during warmups Thursday.
When Plushenko limped out of the arena, the cheering stopped, eventually turning into mild applause.