Nathan Chen's record-breaking short program skate sets him on path to Olympic gold

Nathan Chen had waited four years to redeem a disappointing Olympic performance. Then, as he waited to take the ice Tuesday in Beijing, his chief rival, Japan’s Yuzuru Hanyu, underperformed in his short program.

That meant, suddenly more than ever, the men’s individual competition and the gold medal Chen covets was his for the taking.

So he went out and took a big step toward taking it.

Chen, a 22-year-old out of Salt Lake City, delivered a record-breaking, high-flying, high-energy performance to post a whopping 113.97 points for his short program. He is firmly in first place heading into the free skate, which will take place Thursday morning in Beijing (Wednesday Night in the United States).

Japan’s Yuma Kagiyama is in second with a 108.12 and fellow countryman Shoma Uno is third at 105.90. Hanyu, who was expected to push Chen for gold, is way back in seventh at 95.15 and not even in the final group of skaters for the long program.

For Chen, this was a night out of his dreams.

“It’s pretty close to my best,” Chen said. “... I’m elated. Last Olympics, [the short] program didn’t go the way I wanted. I finally got the chance to skate the program the way I wanted.”

His short program at the 2018 Winter Olympics was a disaster. He finished in 17th place, ending any hope of winning a medal, let alone a gold one, at 18. Since then, he’s become a three-time World Champion, a Yale University student and a more mature, confident skater.

His 113.97 is the highest score ever recorded in a short program in the history of international skating. Hanyu, who won gold at the last two Olympics, held the previous mark of 111.82, set in 2020.

Not only does it give Chen a sizable, 5.85 cushion heading into the free skate final, it sets a tone for the other skaters that he is here to seize the gold, not just avoid losing it.

“Nathan Chen had a perfect performance,” said Kagiyama. “It would be extremely difficult, if not impossible to have a win over him.”

During team competition over the weekend, Chen came in with a 111.71 skating the same program. He is clearly sharp, strong and ready. He sticks quads like he’s walking to the park, nary a doubt. If someone else wants this medal, they are going to have to go out and claim it.

Chen’s routine included a quad flip and a triple axle that he landed smoothly. He then piled on the points with a Quad Lutz-Triple Toeloop combo that earned a 10-percent bonus for coming late in his routine and thus on tired legs. It was worth 21.21 points alone. No other competitor had a single jump score more than 18.82.

As perfect as Chen’s night was, Hanyu’s was nearly the opposite. On his first jump, he believed a blade got caught in a small hole on the ice causing him to give up on a quadruple salchow and turning it into a single. It was worth zero points and his score was doomed from there.

“When I heard that, I (thought), 'Stick to my game plan, nothing changes, focus on what I can do, try to do the best that I can,'” Chen said. “Scores, competitors, all this stuff is out of my control.”

Hanyu’s bid for three consecutive Olympic gold medals is in serious trouble, not that he was ruling anything out.

“I have one more chance,” Hanyu said of the free skate. “I have lots of time with the music and many jumps in there.”

“You can’t ever count him out,” Chen said. “He is a two-time Olympic champion for a reason. He is one of the greatest ever, if not the greatest ever.”

Perhaps, but this is Chen’s event right now. Chen’s medal. Chen’s chance. He brooded on that missed opportunity in South Korea and went to work on getting back here on Olympic ice as an even better skater.

In the short program, he proved he was. He is one routine away from being the United States first men’s individual gold medalist since Evan Lysacek in 2010 at the Vancouver Olympics.

If he skates anything like it in the free skate, no one is going to stop him.