(13 December 2014)  An enthusiastic crowd of about 5,000 spectators in the sold-out Convention and Exhibition Center of Barcelona saw the four senior free programs on Saturday. The ice in the provisionally constructed rink had a very good quality all over the week. It was the first time a big sport event took place in this huge building which is about ten years old. With the help of the experienced ISU people almost everything was well organized even if the locals mostly had no experience in skating at all. At the moment Barcelona’s is Spain’s second city (behind Madrid), but soon the city might become the capital of a new more or less independent State called Catalonia because there is a strong movement in the area towards split from the rest of Spain.

Without the crash during the warm-up at the Cup of China in November with a Chinese skater, Yuzuru Hanyu would have been the clear favorite of this Grand Prix Final in Barcelona. But it was not sure if he had completely recovered. But in the free program he proved that he is back and easily won with 288.16 points. Like several other Japanese skaters he used Andrew Llody Webber’s musical Phantom of the Opera for his music. Hanyu began his free program with two excellent and easy-looking quads, first a Salchow, then a toe loop. Both jumps were awarded with several GOEs of +3. Seven very good triple jumps followed, he only fell on the last triple Lutz. His expression was still not at his best because he concentrated much on the elements. But his ease alone motivated the judges to award him components of around 8.7.

Later he commented: "I was little bit nervous today but felt happy to be able to use my body fully. Thanks to the support I got from my team and many other people. Also I got so many messages from fans and the spectators who were here and from all over the world. I want to send them a message of gratitude and tell them I really felt that today. I was exhausted before the triple Lutz. I tried to move my body but I think I just lost focus. I’ve been able to land it in practice but I also missed it in the short program. My nationals are very soon and I really need to work on that. I still have to add the quad toe to the second half of my free program so I’m not perfect yet. But I have definitely made some progress. I’ve only had a week since NHK so to accomplish this much is really due to the support from my team. This is Spain and I know Javi got lot of support from the crowd but I also really felt it too.”

After his bad sport program, local hero and two time European Champion Javier Fernandez could move up from fifth to second place, earning 253.90 points. This silver medal was only possible because several rivals had a bad day. Fernandez skated to a Spanish partly vocal version of the Italian opera “The Barber of Sevilla” and started his program with a good quad toe loop. After the fall on the quad Salchow in the short program, he decided to perform only a triple Salchow next, followed by an excellent triple axel. Later he really did a quad Salchow and four more triples, but popped the Lutz. Spins, steps and expression were as good as usual. After his performance you could feel that a huge psychological load fell off his shoulders.

He explained: “This competition was way different because I came here with a good feeling that I would be on the podium and worked very hard towards that. Yuzu (Hanyu) was like 20 points ahead from me so I was like, ‘oh my God!’. It was my first time skating in such a big competition in my country and that’s maybe why I was a little bit shocked in the short program when I came on to the ice. By the free program I was already expecting it. These guys are used to it but for me it was the first time.  Hopefully there will be more competitions here, I would love that, but it’s got to be step by step.”

Sergei Voronov from Russia won the bronze medal with 244.53 points. He competed to the evergreen “This is a Man’s Man’s World” by James Brown and other songs in a very dynamic style. His opening quad toe loop was overturned, but the seven performed triple jumps were good, but not as easy-looking as those of the top two skaters. “This season at NHK I performed in Japan after Yuzuru and then in Spain after Javi”, he commented. “It was a very strong feeling for me, especially here where I think people are more emotional. In the short program when Javi was announced it was like a football match, like the Barcelona football team had turned up on the ice. So I felt little bit tense but it felt good today. I was sad I made a mistake on the quad toe loop and on the second quad I did a triple. But all the same in the rest of the performance I coped and I’m happy with the result. While in previous seasons I have been a more classical skater, my choreographer Alexander Zhulin, my coach Eteri Tutberidze and I had the idea to be different on the ice. This year lyrics are allowed. At first when I heard the music I thought I wouldn’t be able to pull it off but then I started to skate to it and I really got pleasure from it and I think the audience have too.”

Voronov’s countryman Maxim Kovtun dropped from third to fourth overall place, winning 242.27 points. He doubled his opening Salchow which was planned quadruple, which cost him almost ten points. Later a quad toe loop, two triple axels and three more triple jumps were good. He did not want to give a comment after his performance, probably because he was disappointed not to be the best Russian skater just two weeks before Russian Nationals.

Takahito Mura from Japan also competed to the “Phantom of the Opera” and finished fifth with 235.37 points. His opening combination of quad toe loop and triple toe loop as well as his second quad toe loop were good, his triple axel even excellent. Later he singled a loop and his last combination was not clean. He said: “My physical condition was good, but I think that mentally I was not good because of the mistakes I made in the short program. This morning I was worried and felt frustrated about my mistakes and I was worried about how well I would skate in the free program. So in this competition I have found my faults and know what I have to do to improve.”

Tatsuki Machida, second at the World championships in March 2014, had a terrible day and finished sixth and last with 216.143 points. He skated to Beethoven’s Hymn of Joy” from the 9^th symphony, but fell three times and missed other elements. He said: “It’s very difficult to skate this program. It is too big for me. It’s like a wall I have to climb but I have never given up and my physical and mental condition is very good but I just wasn’t able to skate well.”