Nobody can accuse the last two male figure skating world champions of ducking the competition.
Yuzuru Hanyu and Javier Fernández, training partners who combined to win every global title since 2014, open their Olympic seasons by competing against each other this week.
The Japanese megastar and the Spanish trailblazer headline the Autumn Classic, a lower-level event in Quebec starting Thursday.
The men’s short program is Friday (8:15 p.m. ET) and the free skate Saturday (8 ET). A live stream is here.
Showdowns like this are usually reserved for, at the earliest, the Grand Prix series in late October and November.