Nathan Chen’s impressive performance in figure skating at this year’s Winter Olympics secured him the gold medal with two triple jumps and five quadruples.
The 22-year-old athlete from Salt Lake City outshined his competitors by a significant lead of 22 points. Chen delivered a nearly flawless routine set to a medley of Elton John music, earning a total of 332.60 points on Thursday. Yuma Kagiyama from Japan took second place with 310.05 points, and Shoma Uno, also from Japan, claimed the bronze medal with 293.00 points.
Dressed in a striking galaxy-themed costume created by Vera Wang, Chen faced minor challenges during his routine, including a slight slip on his quadruple salchow at the start and a misstep on a quadruple toe-loop single euler triple flip move towards the end.
Reflecting on his performance, Chen shared, “The triple sal[chow] felt really off throughout the past two weeks and even two minutes before I skated. So I was a bit concerned about that. However, I was glad to execute it well, and the remainder of the routine went smoothly.”
He went on to say, “Certainly, there are areas that I could have improved upon, but I am overall pleased with the program I delivered.”
Securing the gold medal marks a significant comeback for Chen following his disappointing Winter Olympics in 2018, where he stumbled in his opening move and struggled with his jumps. Since then, he has achieved three world championships victories and dominated in all but one of the 17 competitions he has participated in.
