BEIJING – Yuzuru Hanyu’s defence of his Olympic title looked over after the Japanese figure skating icon fell twice in the Beijing final, as the IOC refused to comment Thursday on a reported doping case involving teenage Russian gold medallist Kamila Valieva.
Eight gold medals were up for grabs on the sixth day of competition in the Chinese capital, where Chloe Kim blitzed the opposition to retain her snowboard halfpipe title.
But Hanyu’s title defence looked doomed after he tumbled twice in the free skate, his score of 188.06 far short of his all-time best of 212.99.
After a shaky start on Tuesday in the short programme, where he finished eighth, the two-time Olympic champion needed to make up a gap of 18.82 points to his main rival, Nathan Chen of the…
