Stupor in Las Vegas: American Nathan Chen, three-time world figure skating champion and four-time defending champion, missed his Skate America debut, four months before the Beijing Winter Games, finishing 4th in the short program on Friday.
Chen, who has gotten into the habit of disgusting competition in recent years in Nevada, finds himself potentially off the podium for the first time on the eve of Saturday’s free skate, during which he will have to show a different face.
It was also by putting his hands on his face, struggling to hide his disappointment, that the 22-year-old skater finished his performance which turned into disaster after a fall on his first quadruple lutz, before he does not miss his second jump consisting of a quadruple flip.
“I still have to figure out exactly what went wrong. I don’t want to make excuses for myself. I made mistakes. I didn’t skate well,” Chen commented.
One of the contenders for the Olympic gold medal was thus credited with a score of 82.89 points, some 28 points below his personal best (111.17 pts) set last year.
The first place is occupied by his compatriot Vincent Zhou (97.43 pts), who is ahead of the Japanese Shoma Uno (89.07 pts) and another American Jimmy Ma (84.52 pts).
American Vincent Zhou at Skate America at the Orleans Arena on October 22, 2021 in Las Vegas / GETTY IMAGES NORTH AMERICA / AFP
“I’m going to take that confidence built up to move forward. I did a good job running the program, while showing some of the good things I did in training. I can skate even better,” assured the medalist. Worlds-2019 bronze medalist who, like Chen, has scheduled five quadruple jumps for his free skate.
The two French competitors, Adam Siao Him Fa and Kevin Aymoz, are respectively 10th (67.60 pts) and 11th places (58.14 pts).
Earlier on Friday, Russian duo Evgenia Tarasova and Vladimir Morozov wowed audiences with their brilliant performance to take the lead as a couple. The double European champions obtained 80.36 points to well outstrip their young compatriots Aleksandra Boikova and Dmitrii Kozlovskii (75.43).
Skate America is the first stop on the international Grand Prix circuit which has six dates, in the United States therefore, in Canada (Vancouver, from October 29 to 31), in Italy (Turin from November 5 to 7), in Japan ( Tokyo from 12 to 14 Nov), in France (Grenoble from 19 to 21 Nov), in Russia (Sochi from 26 to 28 Nov), before the final in Osaka (Japan) from 9 to 12 December.
Rankings after Day 1 of Skate America:
GENTLEMEN:
1. Vincent Zhou (USA) 97,34 points
2. Shoma Uno (JPN) 89.07
3. Jimmy Ma (USA) 84,52
4. Nathan Chen (USA) 82,89
5. Shun Sato (JPN) 80.52
…
COUPLES
1. Evgenia Tarasova / Vladimir Morozov (RUS) 80.36 pts
2. Alexandra Boikova / Dmitrii Kozlovskii (RUS) 75.43
3. Riku Miura / Ryuichi Kihara (JPN) 72,63
4. Jessica Calalang/Brian Johnson (USA) 68.87
5. Alexa Scimeca Knierim/Brandon Frazier (USA) 66,37 points
…
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