Chen victorious for a world title

ASSAGO, ITALY» Nathan Chen’s redemption is complete.

While all of his top competitors fell, the 18-year-old Chen completed six quadruple jumps in the free program Saturday to become the first U.S. winner of the men’s world figure skating title since 2009.

For the rest, it was a fallathon: 14 sprawls, splats, and tumbles among five competitors as they attempted the all-mighty quad. There were three falls by silver medalist Shoma Uno of Japan, who matched his Olympic silver, and two by Mikhail Kolyada of Russia, who took bronze.

Skating last, Chen said he knew the others made mistakes — though not quite how bad — and that gave him the freedom to attempt six quads, knowing he had room for error.

After his woeful Olympic short program put the podium out of reach, Chen said at the worlds, “I just wanted to redeem myself in the short, and try to maintain what I did in the long.”

He finished first in the short, vanquishing that Olympic ghost where disappointment in the individual and team short programs helped pave the way for Saturday’s world title.

And then in the free, he completed six quadruples, with minor deductions for stepping out of the quadruple salchow, to score 219.46 in the free for an overall total of 321.40. That compared to his Olympic free program where he attempted six triples, completing five cleanly but putting his hands down on a quad-flip. That earned him an Olympic record 215.08 points.