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It’s Olympic redemption for Nathan Chen.
Four years after failure in the short program spoiled his dreams of gold in Pyeongchang, Chen became the third American to win gold in 2022 with a dynamic and memorable performance in the men’s singles figure skating, securing the title with a 332.60 score after the free skate on Thursday after a 113.97 in the short program on Wednesday.
Skating to a selection of Elton John, Chen hit every trick, doing all he needed to retain his lead for gold. Chen came into the night with a lead of slightly under six points over Japan’s Yuma Kagiyama, who had a 108.12 in the short program. Chen needed a 196.09 for gold and got a 218.63.
Japan’s Yuma Kagiyama and Shoma Uno finished with silver and bronze, respectively, with scores of 310.05 and 293.00. But that wasn’t enough to best Chen.
Jason Brown, the other American in the event, finished with a 281.4 after scoring a 184 in the free skate.
Chen, a Salt Lake City native, is the first American male singles figure skater to win gold since Evan Lysacek in 2010. Prior to that, the last to do so was Brian Boitano in 1988. He does so on the heels of world championship victories in 2018, 2019 and 2021, and after winning silver as part of the team program earlier in the week. Chen is also the current world record holder for short program, free skate and combined scores.
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The 22-year old Yale student was expected to win gold four years ago, but struggled in the short program, resulting in a fifth place finish after landing five quads in the free skate to move up 12 places. Following that, Chen won every competition he entered until last October, but he was always going to be judged by his performance in Beijing.
Now, he’s checked Olympic gold off his list. Finally.
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