Javier Fernández (figure skater)

Personal life

Javier Fernández López was born on 15 April 1991 in Madrid. He is the younger of two children born to Enriqueta, a mail carrier, and Antonio, an army mechanic. Their father stated, "Between the two children we were spending €450 a month when my earnings were less than €1,500". When Javier went to the United States to train, Antonio took a second job repairing helicopters to cover the expenses. His older sister, Laura, competed in ladies' singles and ice dancing. Fernández intends to become a coach after his competitive skating career ends. He is a fan of Real Madrid C.F. (Royal Madrid Football Club).

Fernández relocated to Hackensack, New Jersey in the United States in the late summer of 2008. He moved to Toronto, Ontario, Canada in the summer of 2011. In November 2014, he confirmed his relationship with Japanese figure skater Miki Ando, with whom he had trained while both were being coached by Nikolai Morozov.

Early career

Fernández started skating at the age of six, after his older sister began taking lessons. For a while, he also played soccer, tennis, and ice hockey, but dropped the other sports to focus on skating at age eight. He skated at a small rink in the San Martín district before switching a year later to a rink in Majadahonda. One of his earliest coaches was Carolina Sanz, who stated that he had natural talent but initially lacked discipline.

Fernández landed his first triple jump at the age of 12. He had to leave Majadahonda after his sister decided to switch to the Jaca skating club, which offered to cover her costs. The youngest Fernández joined his sister in Jaca six months later.

Fernández began skating in senior events in the 2006–07 season, but failed to qualify for the free skate at the European Championships and the World Championships in his debut season.

After two years in Jaca, where he had been teased and discouraged by a lack of improvement in his skating, he returned to Madrid and considered switching to hockey.

2008–09 season

In 2008, Fernández attended a summer camp in Andorra where Russian coach Nikolai Morozov was an instructor. Morozov offered to train him in the United States and Fernández quickly agreed. Fernández relocated to Hackensack, New Jersey in late summer 2008. Although he shared an apartment with a Spanish coach and Morozov didn't charge him for coaching, his expenses in the United States were between €2,000 and €3,000 a month and he received no financial support from Spain.

Fernández had a breakthrough season in 2008–09, finishing 11th at the 2009 Europeans and qualifying a spot for Spain for the Olympics with a 19th place showing at the 2009 Worlds — he was the first Spanish men's skater to qualify for the Olympics since 1956.

2009–10 season

In 2009–10, Fernández received his first senior Grand Prix assignment, the 2009 Trophée Eric Bompard where he finished 11th. He was eighth at the 2010 European Championships, earning two spots for Spain in the following year's event. In his first Olympics, Fernández placed 16th in the short program, 10th in the free skate, and finished 14th overall. He was the first man in half a century to compete for Spain in Olympic figure skating – since the 1956 Olympics when Dario Villalba competed.

Fernández set a new personal best score on his way to a 12th-place finish at the 2010 World Championships. He added the 4T to his jump repertoire in the 2009–10 season.

2010–11 season

After Morozov moved back to Russia, Fernández trained with him in Moscow and also Daugavpils in neighboring Latvia. His assigned events for the 2010-11 ISU Grand Prix season were the 2010 Skate Canada International and the 2010 Cup of Russia. He placed fifth at Skate Canada and ninth at Cup of Russia. At the 2011 Spanish Championships, Fernández cut his hand during the warm-up and received medical attention for twenty minutes, leaving him no time to warm up again. He was unable to defend his title, placing second behind Javier Raya. Since Spain had two men's slots at the 2011 European Championships due to Fernández' result the previous year, both skaters were sent to Bern, Switzerland. Fernández fell twice in the short program, leaving him in eleventh place, but was able to move up to ninth after the free skate and once again earned two spots for Spain at the next Europeans. At the 2011 World Championships, Fernández landed two different quads, (toe loop and Salchow), in the free skate. He earned his first top-ten finish at the event, giving Spain two spots for the 2012 Worlds men's event.

In June 2011, Fernández confirmed that he was no longer working with Morozov and would temporarily train in Canada with Brian Orser. This was due to instability resulting from Morozov's training group moving around frequently and Morozov's focus on Florent Amodio. He said that adding a quad to his short program and improving his basic skating were some of his goals for the 2011–12 season.

2011–12 season

Fernández finished 4th at his first competition of the season, the 2011 Nebelhorn Trophy. At an interview conducted at the event, he said that he would continue to train in Canada, with David Wilson and Jeffrey Buttle as his choreographers. Fernández and Orser said they were working on saving energy and improving spins, transitions and skating skills.

His assigned events for the 2011–12 Grand Prix season were Skate Canada and Cup of Russia. At Skate Canada, Fernández executed the only clean quadruple jump in the short program to take the lead over Daisuke Takahashi and Patrick Chan. He placed second in the free skate and won the silver medal overall, exceeding his combined total personal best by over thirty points. He became the first Spanish skater to win a Grand Prix medal. At the Cup of Russia, he placed fourth in the short program, first in the free skate, and finished second overall with an overall total of 241.63 points — only 0.03 behind gold medalist Yuzuru Hanyu of Japan. Fernández became the first Spanish skater to ever qualify for the Grand Prix of Figure Skating Final when he qualified for the 2011–12 event. In Quebec City, he was third in the short program and fourth in the long to win the bronze medal, and in so doing, became the first Spaniard to medal at a Grand Prix Final. Fernandez reclaimed his national title, winning by over eighty points.

The remainder of the season proved less successful for Fernández. Although considered a medal favorite at the 2012 Europeans, he finished sixth. At the 2012 World Championships, Fernandez placed fifth in the short program but dropped to ninth overall after the free skate. After these results, he agreed to perform full run-throughs of his programs more frequently in practice.

2012–13 season

Fernández started his season at the 2012 Finlandia Trophy where he picked up the bronze medal. His first Grand Prix event of the season was the 2012 Skate Canada, where he beat defending Skate Canada and World champion, Patrick Chan, to take the gold medal. Fernández became the first Spaniard to win a gold medal in the Grand Prix series. Despite his fourth place at the 2012 NHK Trophy, he qualified for the Grand Prix Final. He finished fourth overall at the final after winning the free program with a 4S-3T jump combination, 4S, and 4T. He became the second European to execute three quads in one program — the first being Brian Joubert who landed a 4T-2T combination, 4T, and 4S at the 2006 Cup of Russia — and the first European to do so with a quad-triple combination.

In December 2012, Fernández won his third national title. At the 2013 European Championships, he missed some practice time due to his skates being lost at the airport but they were found one day before the start of the competition. Second in the short program, he then placed first in the free skate, landing three quads jumps with one in combination. He won the gold medal and became the first Spanish skater to win a European title. He posted a new personal best overall score of 274.87 points. He later joked, "I have to make sure I lose my skates again!" At this time, Spain had just 14 indoor rinks and 600 registered figure skaters.

At the 2013 World Championships in London, Ontario, Fernández placed 7th in the short program and 4th in the free skate. Finishing with a total score of 249.06 points, he placed third in the overall standings and won the bronze medal behind three-time World champion Patrick Chan and silver medalist Denis Ten. He became the first Spanish skater to stand on a World Championships podium in figure skating.

2013–14 season

In October 2013, Fernández was invited to skate at the 2013 Japan Open as part of Team Europe alongside Michal Březina, Adelina Sotnikova and Irina Slutskaya. He scored 176.91 points in the free program and won the men's event while Team Europe placed third. In the 2013–14 Grand Prix season, Fernández placed fifth at the 2013 NHK Trophy and third at the 2013 Rostelecom Cup — not enough to qualify for the Grand Prix Final. In December, he won his fourth national title.

Fernández chose to use old skates after struggling with two new pairs of boots. He entered the 2014 European Championships in Budapest, Hungary, as the defending champion. He placed first in the short program with a clean skate, 6 points ahead of Russia's Sergei Voronov. His score of 91.56 was a new personal best at the time – the first occasion he crossed the 90 point mark in international competition. In his free skate, Fernández completed three quads (stepping out of the opening toe loop and the second quad salcow), a triple axel and five more triples, but doubled a lutz and underrotated the second jump of his quad salchow-triple toe loop combination. He scored 175.55 points in the segment, 267.11 points overall, and won the European title for the second year in a row.

In February, Fernández competed in the men's singles event at the 2014 Winter Olympics in Sochi, Russia. He was the flag bearer for Spain during the opening ceremony. Earning 86.98 points in the short program, he placed third behind Yuzuru Hanyu and Patrick Chan, having stepped out of his quad salchow and triple lutz-triple toe loop combination. In the free skate, he landed a quad toe loop and a quad salchow – the latter in combination – but tripled a second quad salchow attempt. He went on to complete another triple salchow as the last jump of his skate, which – having been repeated in the program – was rated as an invalid element, and received no points. He placed fifth in the free skate segment with 166.94 points, ultimately coming in fourth, 1.18 points behind Olympic bronze medalist Denis Ten of Kazakhstan.

Fernández ended his season at the 2014 World Championships in Saitama, Japan. He skated a clean short program and earned 96.42 points, improving on his personal best in the segment by 4.86 points. He stood in second place behind Tatsuki Machida of Japan, and ahead of Sochi Olympic champion Yuzuru Hanyu. He landed three quads in his free skate along with five triples, but singled a planned triple lutz and added only a double as the second jump of his quad salchow combination. He placed third in the segment with 179.51 points for a total score of 275.93, and repeated as World bronze medalist, behind Hanyu (gold) and Machida (silver).

2014–15 season

Initially, Fernández had wanted to sit out of the Grand Prix series to focus on the European and World Championships, however decided to take part after he found out that the 2014-15 Grand Prix Final would be held in his home country, in Barcelona.

Fernández began the 2014–15 Grand Prix season with a silver medal at the 2014 Skate Canada International, where he finished eleven points behind Japan's Takahito Mura. Defeating Russia's Sergei Voronov by thirteen points, he won gold at the 2014 Rostelecom Cup and qualified for his third Grand Prix Final. At the Final, held in Barcelona, Fernández placed fifth in the short program after he fell on his quadruple salchow jump, doubled the first jump of his planned tiple lutz-triple toe loop combination, and stumbled during connecting steps. He scored 79.18 points, trailing leader Yuzuru Hanyu by almost 15 points. He recovered to place second in the free skate, again behind Hanyu, with a program that included two quad jumps, six triple jumps, and level-four spins and footwork, but he tripled a planned quad salchow jump and singled a triple lutz jump. He scored 174.72 points in the free skate, and 253.90 in total. Overall, he won the silver medal behind Yuzuru Hanyu.

At the 2015 European Championships in Stockholm, Fernández took the lead in the short program after he stepped out of his quad salchow and the second jump of his triple lutz-triple toe loop combination, but completed a triple axel jump and level-four spins and footwork, scoring 89.24 points in the segment. In the free skate, he completed a quad toe loop and six triple jumps, but fell on a quad salchow jump attempt and tripled another. Despite the errors, he won the free skate with 173.25 points, more than 15 points ahead of Russia's Maxim Kovtun, and claimed his third consecutive European title with a total of 262.49 points.

Fernández skated a clean short program at the 2015 World Championships in Shanghai, which included a quad Salchow, a triple Lutz-triple toe loop combination, a triple Axel and level-four spins. But his step sequence was rated level-three and his triple Axel was not perfect. He received 92.74 points and stood in second place, less than 2.5 points behind Yuzuru Hanyu. He produced a free skate with two quads, six triples, level-four spins and level-three step sequence. His only major error was a fall on a quad Salchow attempt. He placed second in the segment with 181.16 points – his strongest free skate of the season – more than 5 points ahead of Hanyu and just 0.67 behind Kazakhstan's Denis Ten. Overall, he outscored Olympic champion Yuzuru Hanyu (silver) and Olympic bronze medalist Denis Ten (bronze) for the gold medal, having received a total of 273.90 points. He became the first skater from Spain to win a world title in figure skating.

2015–16 season

During the 2015–16 Grand Prix series, Fernández won gold at both of his events, the 2015 Cup of China and 2015 Rostelecom Cup, and qualified for the 2015–16 Grand Prix Final in Barcelona. Second to Hanyu in both segments in Barcelona, he won silver in the Grand Prix Final for the second year in a row. In the free program, he landed his three planned quadruple jumps and scored 201.43 points, becoming the second skater in history to receive over 200 points in this segment.

Fernández defended his national title at the Spanish Championships in December 2015, attempting and completing two quadruple jumps in his short program for the first time in his career (a quad toe loop in combination with a triple toe loop, and a quad salchow).

At the 2016 European Championships in Bratislava, Fernández successfully landed a quad toe loop-triple toe loop combination, quad salchow, and triple axel to score a new personal best of 102.54 points in the short program. With this score, he became only the second man in history to break 100 points in that segment. With a 14-point advantage going into the free skate, Fernández landed three quadruple jumps, but fell on the second triple Axel of the program (which he had just added). He scored 200.23 points, for a combined total of 302.77, becoming the second skater in history to cross the 300 point mark. He finished ahead of silver medalist Oleksii Bychenko by a margin of over 60 points.

Entering the 2016 World Championships in Boston as the defending champion, Fernández opened his short program with a quad toe loop-triple toe loop combination, then fell on his quad salchow attempt, but recovered to complete a triple axel, two level-four spins and level-four footwork, scoring 98.52 points and securing second place. After the short program, he could do little practice due to a recurring bursa on the heel of his right foot. On the day of the free skate, the medical team of the event attended to his injury for several hours and helped him to alleviate the problem. Fernández entered the free skate segment with a 12.04 deficit behind Yuzuru Hanyu - the largest point gap at the time between first and second place after the short program in any discipline at a World Championships or Olympic Games under the ISU judging system. Fernández completed a clean free skate, which included three quads (a toe loop and two salchows, one in combination with a triple toe loop), two triple axels, four more triples as well as difficult spins and level-four footwork, and scored 216.41, surpassing his personal best in the segment by 14.98 points. He reached a total score of 314.93, also a new personal best. (His free skating and total scores were the second and third highest, respectively, under the ISU judging system as of the event.) Hanyu made mistakes in his free skate, allowing Fernández to close the point gap and overtake him by a further 19.76 points to become the 2016 World champion, ahead of Yuzuru Hanyu (silver) and Jin Boyang (bronze).

According to a May 2016 news article, Fernández's income from shows is greater than his competitive earnings. When he won his second World title, Spain had 17 ice rinks, compared to a hundred in Toronto, and 300 licensed skaters, compared to about 15,000 in France.

2016–17 season

Fernández participated at the 2016 Rostelecom Cup and the 2016 Trophée de France as his two assignments in the 2016–17 Grand Prix series. He trailed Japan's Shoma Uno after the short program at the Russian Grand Prix event, having tripled one of his quad attempts. However, he rallied back with a strong free skate in which he produced three quads, two triple Axels, and received the first 200+ long program score of the season: 201.43. One week later, Fernández won both the short program and the free skate at the French Grand Prix, despite a fall in each segment of the event - on a quad toe loop in the short program, and a triple Axel in the free skate. He collected 15 points from both events and qualified for the 2016–17 Grand Prix Final with maximum points.

At the Grand Prix Final held in Marseille, Fernández placed third in the short program with 91.76 points, after he hit a quad toe loop-triple toe loop combination, but stumbled on his quad salchow and fell on the triple axel. Subsequently he made a number of errors in the free skate as well, where he tripled his planned quad toe loop, underrotated and stumbled on a quad salchow and fell on his second triple axel. He finished fourth in the free skate with 177.01 points and dropped to 4th place overall with a total score of 268.77. This was the first event since the 2014 Winter Olympic Games where he failed to make the podium.

Fernández won his seventh national title at the Spanish Championships in December 2016. He hit two quads in his short program (the toe loop in combination with a triple toe loop, and the salchow with a hand down) to take the lead, and followed with a free skate which included two quads (a toe loop and a salchow) and two triple axels (the first in combination with a triple toe loop - a new element for Fernández).

The 2017 European Figure Skating Championships were held in Ostrava, where Fernández successfully defended the title he has held since 2013. He skated a clean short program including two quads (one in combination with a triple), a triple axel and all level four elements to claim first place in the segment and achieve a new personal best of 104.25 points. His free skate included three quads and seven triples, however he over-rotated his first quad salchow and crashed to the ice from the second. Fernández recovered to finish his routine and earned 190.59 points, winning the free skating segment over Russian Maxim Kovtun by over 18 points. Fernández received 294.84 points overall to win the gold medal, and became the first skater since Ondrej Nepela (1969–73) to win five consecutive European men's titles, and only the third in history to have achieved this feat, including Karl Schäfer, who won the title 8 consecutive times (1929–38).

Awards

Competitive highlights

GP: Grand Prix; CS: Challenger Series; JGP: Junior Grand Prix

Detailed results

Small medals for short and free programs awarded only at ISU Championships.