Japan's Mone Chiba wins gold in women's free skate at ISU Four Continents Championships

Japan's Mone Chiba won the women's single skating title with a combined score of 214.98 points after extending her lead in the free skate at the ISU Four Continents Championships in Shanghai on Friday, with South Korea's Kim Chae-yeon and Japan's Rinka Watanabe rounding up the podium with 204.68 and 202.17 points, respectively.

The Japanese national silver medalist led the short program on Thursday with a season's best 71.10 points, and scored 143.88 in the free skate where she landed a triple flip triple toeloop, a double Axel, a triple salchow and a triple loop as well as level-four spins and footwork dancing to the Legend of 1900 by Ennio Morricone. 

"I finished first in the short program yesterday, so I came on the rink last today in the free skate," said Chiba, who was placed third in the event last year. "I was very nervous but I tried my best to finish my performance. I am happy to have a complete program," she added. 

"The earlier part of my performance went very well, but there was a mistake at the end, which was a bit regrettable. It might have been due to some nerves. I hope I can have a clean program at the world championships," said Kim.

Meanwhile, China's Chen Hongyi ranked 13th with 153.96, followed by Zhu Yi and Cheng Jiaying in the 16th and 18th places. 

"I haven't had systematic training recently, so I'm quite satisfied with my performance. I will try to make improvements and try to avoid the flaws in the upcoming competitions," said Chen.

In the rhythm dance, two-time world bronze medalists Piper Gilles and Paul Poirier of Canada took the lead with 85.49 points. They collected a level four for the twizzles and the rotational lift while the midline step sequence garnered a level three and the Pattern Dance step sequence a level two.

Their teammates Laurence Fournier Beaudry and Nikolaj Sorensen were 3.47 points behind, while Christina Carreira and Anthony Ponomarenko of the United States were third with 77.47.

(With input from Xinhua)