Stumbling on the world stage
Nathan Chen crumbles under pressure of Olympic spotlight
GANGNEUNG, South Korea — Two-time U.S. champion Nathan Chen continued to wilt Friday under the great expectations leading to the Pyeongchang Games underscoring the tension some young athletes experience when overtaken by immense public interest.
A teenager thrust into the Olympic favorite role has been unable to handle the emotions after he struggled on three jumps in men’s figure skating short program — including an opening fall on a quadruple flip.
The Los Angeles-based skater scored 21.85 points below his season best to finish the short program poorly a week after stumbling through the same routine in the team event. He has all but been knocked out of medal contention as the competition concludes Saturday (Friday night, Pacific) with the free skate.
Chen, 18, finished behind American teammates Adam Rippon ( seventh place) and Palo Alto’s Vincent Zhou, who became the first athlete to land a quadruple lutz in an Olympic competition. The history-making jump led to a 12th-place finish with the possibility of more to come.
Chen, on the other hand, was expected to battle reigning Olympic and world champion Yuzuru Hanyu of Japan for the gold medal. It had the makings one of the best skating dramas in years.
Until Chen found himself on his backside after the first jump.
“Honestly, it was bad,” he said. “I made as many mistakes as I possibly could have.”
On a day Hanyu soared to music from Chopin, his chief nemesis came unnerved in an Olympic debut that was expected to be a crowning moment. Chen tumbled all the way to 17th place and will face a Himalayan climb to respectability.
Hanyu scored 111.68 points in a winning performance so good he clapped with the audience at the end after two effortless quadruple jumps. Spain’s Javier Fernandez is second with a score of 107.58 points while Hanyu’s teammate Shoma Uno is third (104.17 points).
Hanyu, 23, came to Korea nursing an injured ankle that led many to consider Chen the favorite here. Now he has the chance to become the first man to win consecutive Olympic titles in 66 years.
“It’s something that he wants more than anything,” coach Brian Orser said. “It has been amazing how he’s been able to pull this off in such a short amount of time.”
Hanyu credited all the support he has received after the injury, saying no athlete could have been lifted by more fans. But Fernandez, his training partner in Toronto, saw the Japanese star returning to form in the past few weeks. The Spaniard recalled repeated questions about Hanyu’s status. “Don’t ask me,” he replied. But Fernandez knew what his coach, Orser, did.
Hanyu was fully recovered and ready for a chance to be the first repeat winner since Dick Button in 1948 and 1952.
Unlike four years ago in Sochi, the men were as strong as advertised. The top four competitors landed a total of eight quadruple jumps and four triple axels, which are 3 ½ rotation jumps.
Rippon, the Americans’ elder statesman at 28, didn’t even try a quad. But he scored one for artistry in a 2-minute 50-second show to “Let Me Think About it.” Rippon lied back on the ice and pumped his fists after a performance that earned 87.95 points.
“I want to show the world what I am made of and to show the world why I fell in love with skating,” said Rippon, who helped the United States win the team event bronze medal.
Zhou wasn’t the only skater to land the quadruple lutz. Russian Dmitri Aliev also did it to finish fifth in the short program.
Chen isn’t sure what’s next. “I’ll just talk to my team,” he said. “I am not sure exactly what to do. I think I will just recover and try to do my best for the free.
“I thought I did everything right going into this, things just didn’t click together.”