American Nathan Chen won his first men's world figure skating championship on Saturday, with a stunning free skate to leave Japan's Shoma Uno to finish second for two years running.

Chen, who won Thursday's short program, skated to a career-best 219.46 points in his free skate for a career-high 321.40 to achieve some redemption after a disappointing fifth place at last month's Pyeongchang Olympics. The 18-year-old attempted six quads in his program and was only marked down on two of his jumps.

Russia's Mikhail Kolyada, who was second in the free program, was fourth in the free skate to finish third overall with 272.32.

Uno, the 20-year-old Olympic silver medalist, overcame a disastrous start by landing his final jumps in a riveting finish and a 273.77 final total. Uno had cut short his Tuesday training session and was carried out with an ice pack on his right ankle. He finished fifth in the short program.

"It (my free skate) wasn't much of a performance, but I was able to finish strong. It might have looked ugly, I never gave up and remained in command," said Uno, who fell on three of the four quads he attempted. "I made quite a lot of mistakes, but in the end I was able to fall back on my training."

"The condition of my foot was a lot better tonight, and the mistakes I made were more of a failure to make adjustments," he said.

Japan's Kazuki Tomono, who entered the free program in 11th place, scored a career-high 173.50 in his free skate to finish fifth in his worlds debut.

"I can hardly believe this," said the 19-year-old Tomono, who only made his senior debut this season. "I had nothing to lose. I was able to leave everything out there on the ice, largely because I went out there to enjoy myself."

"This is a performance I hope to build on as I prepare for next season," he added.

Keiji Tanaka, 18th in Pyeongchang, scored 156.49 on his free skate for a 236.6 total and a 13th-place finish.

On Friday, Japan's Wakaba Higuchi and Satoko Miyahara took silver and bronze, respectively, in the women's competition, won by Canada's Kaetlyn Osmand.