Keegan Messing, Jason Brown top leader board after short program at Finlandia Trophy

Canadian Keegan Messing and American Jason Brown posted matching 92.39 scores Thursday (7 October) to top the leader board after the men’s short program at the Finlandia Trophy in Espoo, Finland.

Messing won the tiebreak, giving him first place after earning a higher technical element score than Brown. Messing and Brown finished sixth and seventh, respectively, at the 2021 World Figure Skating Championships.

2018 Olympic team silver medallist Mikhail Kolyada is currently third after falling on a quadruple toe attempt.

Messing was the day’s third skater, executing a quadruple toe, double toe combination in his first jumping pass. He capped his program with triple Axel and triple Lutz jumps.

In the final group, Brown skated to ‘Sinnerman’ by Nina Simone, which has become an iconic program for the American. He landed all three of his jumping passes: a triple flip, triple Axel, and triple Lutz, triple toe loop combination.

He came alive after the combination jumps, moving with ease across the ice in his step sequence and using every beat of the jazzy music. The sequence was punctuated by a straddle jump, perfectly timed to the music, into a spiral at full split.

2020 European champion Dmitri Aliev skated at the end of group three but fell on a quadruple toe attempt. He scored 78.28 and is currently fifth.