MOSCOW - Canadian Patrick Chan put on a record performance Wednesday in his bid for his first world figure skating title.
Skating to "Take Five" by Paul Desmond, the 20-year-old from Toronto compiled a world-record score of 93.02 to lead the short program, landing a picture-perfect quad jump to open the program followed by a huge triple Axel.
Chan takes a lead of huge 12-point lead into Friday's free program after Japan's Nobunari Oda was second with a score of 81.81. Defending world champion Daisuke Takahashi of Japan was third with 80.25.
The previous world mark was 91.30, set by Russian Evgeni Plushenko at the 2010 European championships. Plushenko, who's not competing this season, was in the crowd at the Megasport Arena to see his record fall.
Chan, a two-time world silver medallist, had a previous best score in the short program of 88.90 at the 2009 Four Continents Championships.
The Canadian recorded a world's best mark at this season's Canadian championships in January, but it wasn't recognized by the International Skating Union as official because it was in a domestic event.
Chan was competing for the first time in three months — including a roller-coaster last few weeks that saw the world championships postponed and finally relocated in the wake of the March 11 earthquake and tsunami that ravaged northeastern Japan. The event had originally been slated to open March 21 in Tokyo, and there had been concern it would be cancelled altogether before the International Skating Union finally determined it would be held in Moscow.
