North Vancouver figure skater Liam Firus finished 28th in Thursday’s Olympic men’s short program at the Iceberg Skating Palace in Sochi, failing to advance to Friday’s free skate.
The 21-year-old, skating in his first Olympic competition, faced a tough task as the first skater to hit the ice in Sochi. Dressed in a pink shirt with a white flower tucked in the pocket, Firus performed to “Fascination” by Fermo Dante Marchetti.
He fell on his opening jump, a triple axel, before turning a planned combination into a single jump. Needing to make up for the missed jump, he then fell on an attempted combination. His score of 55.04 left him more than five points back of the top-24 spot needed to qualify for Friday’s free skate.
“Not the Olympic moment I was hoping for, (but I) had much fun and gave it my all!!” Firus wrote on his Twitter account following the competition. “Thanks for all of the support!!”
Firus qualified for the Games after finishing third at the national championships in January, a result that came after an intense rehab effort from a groin injury that kept him off the ice for much of 2013. Sochi was only the third senior international comeptition of his career.
The Olympics were only slightly kinder to his teammate, North Vancouver-born Kevin Reynolds who now resides in Coquitlam and trains in Burnaby. Reynolds, skating to an AC/DC medley of “Back in Black” and “Thunderstruck,” fell on his opening quad jump and then hit the ice again on his third jumping pass. In between he landed a solid quad toe loop, triple toe loop combination.
The high flyer was the only competitor to attempt two quads in his short program. His 68.76 points to put him into 17th place. He’ll take part in Friday’s free skate but is more than 18 points behind the bronze medal position.
Reynolds had a rocky season too, struggling with a skate problem for much of the year — he couldn’t find a pair that fit his narrow heels. He sorted it out in time to help Canada earn silver in the Olympic team competition last weekend. He finished fifth at last year’s world championships.
Canadian Patrick Chan, the three-time defending world champion, is in second place following the short program, 3.93 points behind Japan’s Yuzuru Hanyu. The free skate begins at 7 a.m. PST Friday.
