Chen wins U.S. short program

As he has done since his last loss at the Pyeonchang Olympics — yes, nearly three years ago — the dynamic Nathan Chen was nearly perfect and rather playful in winning the short program Saturday at the U.S. Figure Skating Championships at Las Vegas.

Seeking a fifth straight national title, something no man has done since Dick Button from 1946-52 with seven, Chen put out the most difficult routine that any man anywhere attempts. He hit a quadruple lutz, triple axel and an excellent quad flip-triple toe loop combination in scoring 113.92 points.

“I’m quite happy with the skate,” said the two-time world gold medalist. “Some of the jumps, the landings were a little bit shaky, especially the lutz, but I’m glad that I was able to pull through lutz and get to the axel and then do a combo in the second half. I don’t know if I’d ever done that in a short program. I’m happy about that. … So, yeah, I’m happy with the way it went.”

Fellow 2018 Olympian Vincent Zhou put the pressure on by nailing a quad lutz-triple toe loop combination with his arms raised above his head, a solo quad salchow and a triple axel, all as smooth as freshly swept ice.

Zhou, who skipped much of last season, benefited from that break. He also changed coaches, then finished second to Chen at Skate America in the fall; fought off some ankle and back injuries; and on Saturday looked calm, relaxed and at his peak in setting a career best at 107.79 points.

“A score like that didn’t seem like an impossibility in my head. I knew that if I got the job done I was very capable of that,” Zhou said. “At the beginning of this year at a small, local competition, in Colorado, I scored 103 with a clean program. That was way before Skate America, that was way before I put all this effort into developing the quality of everything: my landings, my spins, my choreography. So I know that with that much room to grow I could definitely score a couple points higher than 103.”

Jason Brown, a 2014 Olympian and the 2015 U.S. champion, was third at 100.92. Brown doesn’t have the jumping repertoire of Chen or Zhou, but his artistry on the ice has made him a factor on the U.S. scene for nearly a decade.