While 30 men took to the ice at Capital Indoor Stadium in Beijing on Feb. 8 for the men’s short program in figure skating, the focus was on the four skaters most likely to earn a spot on the Olympic podium.
When it comes to gold, however, there are only two: American Nathan Chen and Japan’s Yuzuru Hanyu. Hanyu is the reigning Olympic champion, and Chen is hungry for the only hardware that he is missing from his collection of world and national championships after his fifth-place performance in Pyeongchang.
When the event was over, just one stood apart. Chen skated a nearly perfect program, full of technical prowess and emotion, which set a new world record and easily vaulted him to first place. Hanyu popped a planned quadruple jump and lost valuable points, which landed him in eighth overall.
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Heading into the free program, Chen now finds himself in a very different place than he did in 2018. Four years ago, mistakes in his short program pushed him to 17th. This time, he has a comfortable 5.85 point cushion over his next competitor. Hanyu could still be a threat, but Chen has definitively established that he is the quad king at these Games.
Chen will lead the top 24 scoring skaters on to the free program, which will be held on Thursday.
READ MORE: Your Complete Guide to Figure Skating at the Beijing Olympics
The 22-year-old’s redemption narrative was certainly a draw for the event, as was the anticipated face-off between the two skaters widely regarded as among the best ever in men’s figure skating. Hanyu’s decision not to fly into Beijing until Feb. 6, two days before his competition, only increased the anticipation. Reporters crammed into the practice rink beginning at dawn the day after his arrival, eager to catch the first glimpse of the Japanese star training on Olympic ice.
But they—and figure skating fans all over the world—had to wait more than three hours for Hanyu, Chen and the other contenders to compete. When Hanyu…
Source : time
