Chen, Zhou to join Brown on Olympic team
NASHVILLE, Tenn. — Threetime world champion Nathan Chen proclaimed 17-year-old Ilia Malinin to be the future of U.S. Figure Skating.
Maybe so, but Malinin’s present won’t include the Beijing Olympics.
That distinction belongs to Chen, who won his sixth straight national title Sunday, and veterans Vincent Zhou and Jason Brown, whom the selection committee chose over Malinin to represent the American team at the Games next month.
“This team is incredible, just the amount of experience we all have,” Chen said. “I think regardless of anything we’re going to have great skates there. And going back to experience, I think that’s so important. I have been to events for the first time and things didn’t necessarily go the way I wanted it to. It’s really daunting.”
Indeed, it was so daunting four years ago that Chen stumbled through his short program at the Pyeongchang Games to dash any chance of winning an Olympic medal. He wound up a disappointing fifth with Zhou one spot behind him.
Meanwhile, Brown missed the 2018 team entirely after finishing ninth at the 2014 Games in Sochi.
“I’ve been through every single scenario: the young kid that makes it, the guy that gets left off the team. I so feel for (Malinin),” said Brown, who can’t touch Malinin’s jumping ability but makes up for it with his artistry and command.
“It’s really difficult,” Brown said. “There’s no easy way no matter what, when you look at the field. I’m so proud of how dense the men’s field has become. It’s remarkable. Just watching (Malinin) grow and shine — he was unbelievable tonight.”
The selection committee had to pick three skaters for the Olympics that did not finish nationals: Alysa Liu on the women’s team and Alexa Knierim and Brandon Frazier in pairs. Liu and Frazier tested positive for COVID-19 and withdrew.
The remainder of the roster has U.S. champion Mariah Bell and Karen Chen in the women’s competition; gold medalists Ashley Cain-Gribble and Timothy LeDuc in pairs; titlists Madison Chock and Evan Bates, plus Madison Hubbell and Zachary Donohue and Kaitlin Hawayek and Jean-Luc Baker in ice dance.
“It’s going to be a different games from what we can imagine and other people experience,” Baker said, “but I know we’ll be surrounded by such amazing people. The outfits look pretty cool, too.”
Like most young skaters, Frazier had developed a carefully crafted picture in his mind of what it would be like to learn he finally realized his Olympic dreams. But the reality looked a whole lot different after his positive COVID-19 test; he merely had a Facetime chat with Knierim while awaiting the negative tests that would free him from his hotel quarantine.
“I never imagined it like it actually went down last night,” Frazier said Sunday, four days after his positive test forced the pair to withdraw from the U.S. Figure Skating Championships and petition for a spot at the Winter Games.
“But that’s when I knew it meant the absolute world to me,” Frazier said, “because it meant just as much to me.”