Nathan Chen gets gold: US figure skater dazzles to win at 2022 Winter Olympics

Nathan Chen

Star figure skater from The USA, Nathan Chen continued with his magical performance on the ice at the 2022 Beijing Olympics. The 22-year-old won his first gold medal in the Games, with a flawless show that set him well above the competition in the men’s single skating competition on Thursday.

With this, he also became the first American since Evan Lysacek in 2010 to clinch a men’s figure skating gold medal. Interestingly, he set the world record with 113.97 in the short program yesterday. Chen’s mind-blowing score broke the previous world record of 111.82 set in 2020 by two-time Olympic defending champion Yuzuru Hanyu.

“It means the world. It’s a whirlwind right now and I just had a blast out there. I’m so happy, that program is so much fun to skate,” said Chen, who skated to Elton John’s “Rocket Man.”

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“Very happy I was able to do the program that I put down”

The Utah native Chen, who had a disappointing performance at the 2018 PyeongChang Olympics, opened with a quadruple flip, followed by a triple toe loop at Beijing’s Capital Indoor Stadium. The youngster nailed every jump and move, with a total of five quad jumps, including a quadruple lutz.

Chen was placed well ahead of his competitors with a score of 218.63, combined with his short program score for a winning total of 332.60. On the other hand, the two Japanese skaters take the podium behind him.

“Of course, there are certainly many things I could have done better, but overall I was very happy I was able to do the program that I put down,” the skater said.
“No matter how hard, no matter how unimaginable, I want to push a little bit more for those who have expectations of me,” he said afterwards. “That [attempt] was my pride. It’s going to make me more complete. That’s why I did it.”

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