SPAIN'S 'ace on ice' Javier Fernández has netted a bronze in figure-skating – the second medal for the country at the Pyeongchang Winter Olympics, only the fourth in Spanish sporting history and the first games in 26 years where the nation's competitors have made it to the podium.
Hopes had been pinned on 'SuperJavi' after a series of unlucky results for Spain – Laro Herrer and flag-bearer Lucas Eguibar crashed out in boardercross and Ander Mirambell failed to make the third round in skeleton, despite clocking up his best time of the season, whilst halfpipe rider Queralt Castellet's best result was 67, to gold medallist Chloe Kim's 93.
Boardercross rider Regino Hernández's bronze on Thursday took some of the pressure off Javier to break the run of ill fortune Spain has suffered since the 1992 Albertville Winter Olympics when Blanca Ochoa took the bronze in slalom, 20 years after her late brother Paco scooped up the gold in the same discipline.
Although Javier really wanted the gold – with two world championships and six consecutive European championships under his belt, a Winter Olympic win is the only one missing from his collection – the Madrid-born skater is said to be delighted with his result, having waited four years since falling short of the podium in Sochi.
Making history in the Gangneung Ice Arena, Javier's routine was, nevertheless, no match for the favourite, Yuzuru Hanyu, who took his second consecutive gold, a feat not seen since the USA's Dick Button repeated his 1948 triumph again in 1952.
And the difference between Javier's score and that of silver medallist Shoma Uno was equally as negligible as the margin that saw him lose the bronze to Denis Ten in 2014 – Javier ended on 305.24, to Uno's 306.90.
Hanyu was comfortably in front of both, with 317.85, giving Japan the top two prizes, whilst China's Jin Boyang on 297.77 and the USA's Nathan Chen on 297.35 earnt Olympic diplomas.
The last time Spain came home from a Winter Olympics with medals was the year Javier was just a year old, and now – just shy of his 27th birthday – he said in the run-up to Pyeongchang that 2018 would be his third and last games.
