Nathan Chen Wins Gold on the Males’s Particular person Occasion

In his ultimate apply earlier than skating for the Olympic gold medal, Nathan Chen made certain to absorb the second.

He stood alone on the fringe of the rink in Beijing on Thursday and appeared round on the stands and the world, and on the Olympic rings at each flip. Not like on the 2018 Winter Video games when he completed fifth general, he’s appreciating the expertise of competing on the Olympics, win or lose.

And this time he gained, in contrast to final time when his tunnel imaginative and prescient was centered solely on the gold.

With jet-fueled quadruple jumps and a efficiency to an Elton John medley that raised goose bumps, Chen, 22, shouted loudly and clearly to all the Beijing Video games — and the world — that he has been the very best skater round for greater than three years and that nothing has modified. 4 years after he completed fifth general, dramatically rising to that spot after ending seventeenth within the quick program, Chen fulfilled the surface expectation that he would win the Olympic gold medal. Lastly.

He got here into the free skate with confidence after profitable the quick program with authority, almost 6 factors forward of the second-place skater, Yuma Kagiyama of Japan. However he didn’t simply win it — he crushed it, scoring 113.97 factors, a world report, for expertise that included impeccable quadruple jumps and gyroscope-fast spins.

Even earlier than the free skate on Thursday, considered one of Chen’s fundamental rivals — the two-time Olympic champion Yuzuru Hanyu — was far behind him within the standings. Within the quick program, Hanyu aborted his first leap, later claiming he hit a gap within the ice, and the zero rating he obtained for the talent significantly harm his medal possibilities. He couldn’t make up the misplaced factors within the free program, both, falling twice, together with in the course of the never-done-before quadruple axel. He completed fourth.

Kagiyama took the silver medal, greater than 22 factors behind Chen, and Shoma Uno, one other Japanese skater, gained the bronze.

Chen mentioned he has gained perspective for the reason that final Olympics. For 2 years whereas competing on the worldwide stage, he studied at Yale, broadening the teeny-tiny world of skating he has lived in for so long as he can bear in mind. He acknowledged that he’s not a child anymore, actually not the earnest, stressed one who arrived on the final Olympics needing to win in any respect value. Buoyed by a brand new sense of confidence, he has misplaced solely as soon as for the reason that 2018 world championships.

If he misplaced a second time, immediately on the Olympics, Chen mentioned he wouldn’t be devastated, at the least for lengthy.

“I believe that oftentimes you form of dramatize issues and are like, ‘Oh, man, it’s the top of the world if issues don’t go properly,’” Chen mentioned in an interview final month. “However actually, no, the world continues to show and issues will return to regular.”

Now the brand new regular is that he’s an Olympic champion.