Canada’s Nam Nguyen first after short program at world juniors

SOFIA, Bulgaria – Nam Nguyen of Toronto is in first place in men’s competition after Thursday’s short program at the ISU World Junior Figure Skating Championships.

Nguyen, 15, earned 72.87 points with Jin Boyang of China second at 71.51 and Uno Shoma of Japan third at 70.67.

“The short program felt awesome,” said Nguyen, who is coached by Brian Orser.  “I was feeling very relaxed throughout the whole program. I took one element at a time and that really paid off.”

The highlight was landing the triple Axel.

“The triple Axel felt really big,” he said. “I think it was one of the best ones I’ve ever done, especially in competition. So it was really good that I was able to deliver it out here.”

Nguyen won’t change a thing for the free skate.

“I’m looking forward to delivering the same performance and to just keep doing what I do in practice,” he said.

Roman Sadovsky of Vaughan, Ont., had a personal best short program and sits 14th.

In pairs, Xiaoyu Yu and Yang Jin of China won the gold medal.

Mary Orr of Brantford, Ont., and Phelan Simpson of Lunenburg, Sask., were sixth and Tara Hancherow Tisdale, Sask., and Wesley Killing of Woodstock, Ont., seventh.

In Wednesday’s short dance, Madeline Edwards of Port Moody, B.C., and ZhaoKai Pang of Burnaby, B.C., are fifth less than a point from third.

Mackenzie Bent of Uxbridge, Ont., and Garrett MacKeen of Oshawa, Ont., are ninth.

Competition continues Friday with the free dance and the women’s short program.

Full results: http://www.isuresults.com/results/wjc2014/index.htm