Nathan Chen Wins Figure Skating Gold at 2022 Olympics

For Nathan Chen, the 2022 Olympics in Beijing have been about proving that he might do what he does so properly — skate dazzling, quad-packed routines — below the stress of the Olympic highlight. After the lads’s free skate on Feb. 9 (Feb. 10 in Beijing), Chen’s standing is secured. His good free skate, together with a record-breaking quick program, received him gold in males’s determine skating. It’s Chen’s first Olympic gold, making him the primary American man to win particular person determine skating gold since Evan Lysacek did it in 2010. Japanese skaters Yuma Kagiyama and Shoma Uno received silver and bronze, respectively, whereas American Jason Brown got here in sixth.

Chen began his Olympic comeback with a statement-making quick program within the group occasion. The suave and highly effective routine, set to “La Bohème,” earned Chen a personal-best score and helped the US declare its first silver within the competitors, however he was removed from accomplished. The 22-year-old obtained even higher within the males’s particular person competitors, incomes the highest short-program score in history with a 113.97. He went into the free skate with a commanding lead of over 5 factors over Kagiyama.

From there, it was nearly Nathan Chen doing what Nathan Chen does finest. In his free skate, set to a jazzy Elton John medley, Chen landed 5 quads whereas pulling off exuberant choreographic sequences that may make the Rocket Man himself proud. When the music ended and the scores got here in, Chen’s 218.63 was sufficient to earn him gold over a gifted discipline that included two-time defending Olympic champion Yuzuru Hanyu. Hanyu tried however didn’t land a quad axel in his free skate, however he nonetheless positioned fourth within the standings regardless of errors in both programs.

For Chen, it closes out a journey that started on the 2018 Olympics, the place he has stated he was mentally unprepared for the highlight and stress of the Video games. In Beijing, he has been as calm and picked up as you’d anticipate a veteran and three-time world champion to be, and it confirmed in three near-flawless performances. Now with that elusive Olympic gold below his belt, the one query is what the “Quad King” will do to dazzle us subsequent. Forward, try extra of Chen’s response and gold-medal-winning routine.