After a Stunning Performance, Nathan Chen Has Claimed His First Olympic Gold Medal

Chen made himself identified even to the world past figure-skating followers in 2010, when he grew to become, at 10, the youngest males’s novice champion in U.S. figure-skating historical past and instructed reporters that he figured he’d be prepared for the Olympics in 2018. He was there then however not fairly prepared. On Wednesday night time, nonetheless, skating final (and to an Elton John medley he used final season for his exhibition music), he landed 5 clear quads to earn the gold medal—with a mixed rating of 332.60.

Eighteen-year-old Yuma Kagiyama, the reigning Japanese bronze medalist and world silver medalist, skated a captivating and assured brief program that put him in second place; his free skate was extra cautious however in a position to maintain that spot within the free skate. He had already scored a private better of 208.94 within the lengthy program on the workforce occasion, serving to him earn a bronze medal for Japan.

Jason Brown’s project in Beijing prompted some controversy; he completed fourth at U.S. Nationals final month however was named to the Olympic workforce as a substitute of silver medalist Ilia Malinin on the premise of his physique of labor. Brown is commonly criticized for not doing quads; he has been engaged on a quad Salchow however has had just one ratified (on the French Grand Prix final fall, though the touchdown was two-footed). He has all the time compensated for the relative lack of technical content material in his packages by loading them with troublesome footwork, soar entrances, and spins, and his creative scores have often justified that technique. This season he repeated two previous packages: “Sinnerman,” choreographed by Rohene Ward to Nina Simone, for the brief program, and “Schindler’s Checklist,” choreographed by David Wilson, for the free skate.