At theWinter Olympicsfour years ago,Nathan Chenfell and kept falling.
Jumps, landed. Spins, nailed.
It was the kind of performance that underlined his prominence as the foremost American male figure skater, the so-called “Quad King” and a three-time world champion.
This time he skated spotlessly, landing both a combo of a quadruple and triple jumpandthe hardest possible jump of any skater in history — the quadruple lutz — on his way to a final score of 111.71, leading the pack of skaters so far.
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Pairs and ice dancers were still scheduled to compete in the team event Thursday into Friday overnight, with the top five teams advancing to the second half of the event, scheduled for Saturday (Eastern).
Nathan Chen competing in the figure skating team event at the 2022 Winter Olympics.Elsa/Getty
Ahead of competing in China, Chen told PEOPLE he had tried to keep things in perspective — mindful of his past challenges while embracing what he loved about his sport.
“It’s so easy to fall into the trap of being like, ‘Oh my gosh, the pressure’s building. Everything’s so stressful. Everything’s so scary,’ " he admitted then.
Nathan Chen after winning gold at the U.S. Figure Skating Championships in January 2022.Ken Murray/Icon Sportswire via Getty
Still, he said, “I think that feeling in that way isn’t necessarily a bad thing all the time, but just being able to remind yourself like, yes, this is a pretty stressful time, but at the same time, there’s a lot more to life. There’s so much more than this individual competition, than this one shot.”
Speaking with reporters after his skate in the Beijing Olympics, Chen said he was “really happy” with his performance and was looking forward to supporting the other skaters, just as they had supported him in 2018.
“I’m just here to have fun,” he said.
“The amazing thing about a team event [is we] can all rely on each other,” he continued.
The Winter Olympic figure skating team event continues Thursday night (Eastern) into Friday.
To learn more about all the Olympic and Paralympic hopefuls, visitTeamUSA.org. Watch the Winter Olympics, beginning Feb. 3, and the Paralympics, beginning March 4, on NBC.
source: people.com
