Nathan Chen completes perfect hat trick in Stockholm

STOCKHOLM -- Nathan Chen won his third consecutive ISU World Figure Skating Championship here on Saturday.

The American, who was placed third after a fall in the short program, had not performed at his best in training. When it really mattered in the free program, he scored 222.03 points -- within three points of his world record -- for a total of 320.88.

"The fact that I'm able to be here on this worlds after this unprecedented year is just amazing. I'm so happy and fortunate to be here and I'm very elated, I'm very happy," Chen said after his victory.

"I tried to remind myself to enjoy being here. I don't know how many more world championships I'll be able to compete at," he said, adding that he tried to enjoy every moment on the ice.

"In doing that, I was able to be a lot calmer. Going the way that it did, I'm very happy."

Meanwhile, the Japanese duo placed first and second after near-perfect short programs did not perform nearly as well in their free programs.

Hanyu Yuzuru was billed as Chen's biggest threat ahead of the competition. The two-time Olympic and two-time world champion was also in the lead before Saturday, but botched two of his quadruples, as well as a couple of triples in his free program. The eight points he had on Chen after the short program vanished and he finished third with a total of 289.18 points.

Instead, 17-year-old Yuma Kagiyama, second after the short program, became Japan's best competitor beating his idol Hanyu in his senior worlds debut. After scoring a total of 291.77 points, he was beaming and jumping with joy.

Yan Han and Jin Boyang of China finished the competition 13th and 22nd after scoring totals of 235.31 and 199.15 points respectively.