Japan's Hanyu leads short program at ISU figure skating worlds

Reigning Olympic champion Yuzuru Hanyu of Japan led the men's short program at the 2015 ISU Figure Skating World Championships here on Friday.

The defending champion, performing to Ballade No. 1 op 23 in G minor by Frederic Chopin, hit a clean triple Axel, a triple lutz and triple toeloop, but made some mistake in his quad toeloop. He scored a season best 95.20 points. Spain's 2015 Four Continents champion Javier Fernandez skated flawlessly to rank second in 92.74, while Kazakhstan's Dennis Ten, bronze medallist at the 2014 Sochi Winter Games, came third in 85.89.

"I didn't do well in my quad toeloop," said the 20-year-old. "But I'm happy with result. I felt lucky today, and I always felt lucky when I gave a decent performance."

"Actually I have never finished a clean short program since the season," he said.

Hanyu had an accident last time in Shanghai. He had a scary collision with China's Yan Han in warm-ups at the Cup of China in November, he took to the ice for his long program with gauze wrapped around his head and a bandage on his chin.

"I had a surgery which delayed my season for one and an half month. I rushed myself and injured my ankle, so I need to rest another two weeks," he said. "I was really anxious, and I really wanted to get back to my training."

The Spanish said he was surprised about his score. "What surprise me is I didn't get a season best score for a clean short program," he said.

Ten was a little disappointed. "I made a mistake in the short program which I can do well in practice," he said.

China's Yan Han came fifth in 84.45.

The free skate was scheduled on Saturday. Endi