Clash of titans looms for Hanyu, Chen

GANGNEUNG, South Korea, Feb 15, (RTRS): On one side is Japan’s Yuzuru Hanyu, the defending Olympic champion coming back from an injury that kept him off the ice for weeks before the Games. On the other is Nathan Chen, an American jumping ace making his Olympic debut.

The two will face off for gold in men’s singles figure skating starting on Friday, a contest with many strong contenders

Hanyu has not skated in competition since falling and injuring his right ankle in November. Though he practised jumps as floor exercise as soon as possible, he only began doing quads on ice about two weeks ago.

“I am confident that if I skate cleanly I will definitely win,” Hanyu, 23, told a packed news conference at the Gangneung Ice Area after a practice session in which he landed several quads.

Chen, 18, cruised to a repeat US championship title last month, landing five quads. But he had a poor skate in the Olympic team competition, uncharacteristically falling on a triple Axel as the US team claimed bronze.

“Training has been going great. I’ve been working out issues I had with the short program,” Chen told a news conference on Thursday. Wednesday by the United States and Olympic Athletes from Russia.

“You saw two good teams lose close games,” Wolski said. “Maybe that woke us up a little bit.”

Cho Min-ho gave South Korea the lead 7:34 into the hosts’ game against the Czechs but Jan Kovar equalised 4:25 later and Michal Repik’s goal with 3:42 remaining in the first period proved to be the winner despite 38 saves from Korean goalie Matt Dalton.

“It was tough,” Czech star Martin Erat said. “A lot of energy and the crowd was behind them. Their goalie is great.”

Tolvanen had a hat-trick in his Kontinental Hockey League debut for Helsinki Jokerit six months ago, and showed the same form under the Olympic spotlight.