Osmond crowned at worlds as leaders crash in women's free skate

MILAN, March 23 (Xinhua) -- Canadian sensation Kaetlyn Osmond was crowned the women's champion at the world figure skating championships after almost all leaders crashed, including Olympic champion Alina Zagitova, in a drama-filled free skate final on Friday.

The Olympic bronze medalist, 22, pulled out a flawless free skate to Black Swan to surge from fourth after the short program to her first world title with a total score of 223.23 points.

"I still can't quite believe it," said Osmond, the first Canadian woman since Karen Magnussen in 1973 to stand on the top of the world podium. "Being the world champion is not something I ever expected."

Japan's Wakaba Higuchi, 17, moved up from eighth after the short program and took the silver with a score of 210.90, and her countrywoman Satoko Miyahara, 19, was third on 210.08.

Zagitova, 15, fell three times during her four minutes free dance skating to ballet Don Quixote, spoiling her bid for a perfect first senior debut season that witnessed she had won the ISU Grand Prix Final, the European title and the Olympic gold medal.

Italian veteran Carolina Kostner, who had been leading after the short program, fell to fourth after also crashing in her skate to Debussy's L'apres-midi d'un faune.

Earlier French ice dancers Gabriella Papadakis and Guillaume Cizeron, who missed the Olympic top podium in PyeongChang after a nightmare wardrobe malfunction, put themselves on course for a third world title with a new world record of 83.73 points in short dance.

The 2015 and 2016 world champions led Americans Madison Hubbell and Zachary Donohue (80.42) and Canadians Kaitlyn Weaver and Andrew Poje (78.31).

Chinese dancers Wang Shiyue and Liu Xinyu narrowly caught their chance, qualifying for the final on the 19th position with a 61.18-point performance.

On Saturday, the American-born Chinese teenager Nathan Chen will fight against Russia's Mikhail Kolyada, his 17-year-old U.S. teammate Vincent Zhou, and China's Jin Boyang in bid to win his first senior world title.

Olympic men's champion Yuzuku Hanyu, women's two-time world title holder Evgenia Medvedeva, as well as China's Olympic pairs runners-up Sui Wenjing and Hancong didn't defend their titles here due to injury. Enditem