By Steve Keating

LONDON, Ontario (Reuters) - Patrick Chan put a season of frustration behind him by completing a hat-trick of world titles on Friday with a victory that establishes the Canadian as the man to beat going into next year's Sochi Olympics.

Although his sloppy free skate to Puccini's "La Boheme" did not come close to capturing the magic or record marks he received for Wednesday's short program, Chan did just enough scoring 267.78 to become first skater since Russia's Alexei Yagudin (1998-2000) to claim three consecutive world titles.

Kazakhstan's Denis Ten delivered the performance of the night easily winning the free skate to take silver with a mark of 266.48, becoming the first skater from his country to medal at the world championships.

European champion Javier Fernandez of Spain, seventh after the short program, provided the comeback of the competition jumping up to take the bronze with 249.06.

(Editing by John O'Brien)