Fernández skated a clean short program at the 2015 World Championships in Shanghai, which included a quad Salchow, a triple Lutz-triple toe loop combination, a triple Axel and level-four spins. But his step sequence was rated level-three and his triple Axel was not perfect. He earned 92.74 points and stood in second place, less than 2.5 points behind Yuzuru Hanyu. He produced a free skate with two quads, six triples, level-four spins and level-three step sequence. His only major error was a fall on a quad Salchow attempt. He placed second in the segment with 181.16 points – his strongest free skate of the season – more than 5 points ahead of Hanyu and just 0.67 behind Kazakhstan's Denis Ten. Overall, he outscored Olympic champion Yuzuru Hanyu (silver) and Olympic bronze medalist Denis Ten (bronze) for the gold medal, having received a total of 273.90 points. He became the first skater from Spain to win a world title in figure skating.