After a poorly negotiated short program on Friday, theAmerican Nathan Chen, three-time world figure skating champion and four-time defending champion, finished third at Skate America on Saturday, October 23 in Las Vegas. He failed to regain ascendancy with his free skate where he had to incorporate six quadruple jumps, but ultimately only spent four. He was finally credited with the second score, in the long program, behind his compatriot Vincent Zhou.
The competition started badly for Nathan Chen on Friday in the short program on Friday. The 22-year-old skater’s performance turned into a nightmare after falling on his first quadruple lutz, before missing his second jump, a quadruple flip.“I still have to find out exactly what went wrong. I don’t want to find excuses for myself. I made mistakes. I did not skate well “, he said after the event, he who is among the favorites to win the Olympic gold medal in Beijing.
“We must try to move forward, learn the lessons of this competition and move forward”, he then relativized, Saturday after his free program and his place on the podium. He will participate next weekend in the Canadian Grand Prix, Skate Canada.
Zhou, who will be 21 on Monday, made an impression on him, far from his disastrous performance at the last World Championships, concluded in 25th place. “I just tried to stay focused on me and the moment that I was in“, he insisted after having succeeded the four quadruple jumps of his free program on the musical theme of the film” Crouching Tiger, Hidden Dragon “.
Final classification – Skate America
1. Vincent Zhou (USA) 295,56 points
2. Shoma Uno (JPN) 270.68
3. Nathan Chen (USA) 269,37
4. Shun Sato (JPN) 247.05
5. Jimmy Ma (USA) 228,12
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