Abbott honors teenage skier who died at Breck

9NEWS OLYMPIC ZONE
KITCHENER, Ontario - When Jeremy Abbott sat in the Kiss-and-Cry area after receiving his scores en route to winning the U.S. men's figure skating title last January, he spoke in sign language on national TV to a hearing impaired teenager back in his home state of Colorado.

"Wow!" and "Cool!" was what Abbott said to Haley Rose Gans.

On Friday night, when Abbott took the ice for his short program at Skate Canada at The Aud, he dedicated his performance to his friend.

Gans, 14, had died earlier in the day in a skiing accident at Breckenridge Ski Resort in Colorado when she hit a tree.

Calling it the most difficult performance of his life, Abbott won the short program with a solid skate to the Beatles' "A Day in the Life."

With 79 points, he took a narrow lead over Japan's Daisuke Takahashi (76.30) and Kazakhstan's Denis Ten (75.45) into Saturday's long program.

"She was a sweet girl," Abbott said of Gans, who was a figure skater at the World Arena -- his former training base in Colorado Springs. "I'm in shock."

Abbott said he hadn't seen Gans in about six months; he relocated to the Detroit Skating Club in Bloomfield Hills this past summer.

Abbott's performance greatly improved his chances at making the ISU Grand Prix Final next month in Tokyo, Japan.

Abbott was fifth two weeks ago at the NHK Trophy in Japan.

Unlike reigning world silver medalist Patrick Chan of Canada, who fell on his triple axel and placed sixth, Abbott nailed all of his elements.

"I wanted to do that - not for myself, but for Haley," Abbott said of his clean skate.