Chen electric on and off the ice
PROVIDENCE, R.I. — The motorized skateboard.
Nathan Chen is the twotime world figure skating champion, the first American to win back-to-back titles since Scott Hamilton in the ’80s. He is a 2018 Olympic bronze medalist. At the 2019 World Championships last month in Japan, the Yale freshman spent his spring break setting the world record for free skate (206.10) and total score (300.97).
Chen is the first skater to land quadruple jumps in a competition and six quadruple jumps in one program.
So, of course, we’ve got to ask him about his electric skateboard.
“I love it,” Chen said, as he settled into his seat at the Dunkin’ Donuts Center Saturday before his performance with Stars on Ice. “It’s called a Boosted Board, a company based out in California. They’ve been gracious enough to send me a board. It has been so helpful.
“The Yale campus is not huge, but I tend to have a busy schedule, so any minute I can save adds up quite a lot. It goes up to 22 mph. I have an extended-range battery, too. I think it goes 14 miles per charge. It gets me around very well.”
Picture this. A 5-5 freshman in glasses, the least intimidating kid, the most intimidating skater in the world, whirling around Yale’s Gothic architecture. All that’s missing is Handsome Dan barking after him and we have a 21st century Norman Rockwell painting.
With Chen in the audience earlier this month, Michelle Kwan was on campus to deliver the Spring 2019 Chubb Fellowship Lecture. After seeing mention of the motorized skateboard in a New York Times piece in March, Kwan said she had sent Chen a message.
“I was like, ‘Be careful!’” Kwan said, according to NBC.com. “I was being the mom, or the grandma. ‘Be careful! You’re the future of U.S. Figure Skating!’”
This is a guy who lands quadruple Lutz-triple toe loop combinations on several continents. So what’s the Boosted Board feel like on the terra firma of New Haven?
“Almost no similarities,” Chen said, “besides the fact it goes really fast.”
In that way, the skateboard has come to represent something of a metaphor for Chen. In a time and place in his life where time management is at a premium, where he is simultaneously juggling the rigors of Ivy League academics and elite competition, every minute saved is precious. Chen knows the skating world, the Olympic world is watching him. He knows there may be some doubters. His response? He won his third successive national title in Detroit in January and, while many college students headed to Florida for spring break, he followed that up with a second world title in record fashion halfway around the world.
“It has been great,” Chen said. “It definitely was a little bit of a learning curve at first. I figured out how to manage the two. It has been an experience I did not want to miss out on, especially being accepted to Yale. I’ve really enjoyed my time there. I’ve met a lot of great people. It’s reassuring that there are so many students out there that are so busy with their own academic lives and extracurriculars and doing amazing things with their time.
“It’s also awesome to see how normal they are. You can have normal conversations, relax and be a college student.”
This semester he is taking abnormal psychology, a music class, calculus and statistics.
“It has challenged me in some areas where I really haven’t had exposure to,” Chen said, “but I’ve really enjoyed it.
He has looked at a career in medicine. His mom is a medical translator. His dad is a scientist.
“Logistically, it’s difficult to fill in pre-med right now, but I definitely have the option later on,” Chen said. “Premed is not necessarily my focus these next two years. Maybe I’ll take it as post-grad or something. It’s still something I’m striving toward.”
Yale has accommodated Chen with time in the afternoon to skate alone at Ingalls Rink, a solitary figure at the Whale adjusting his music, perfecting technique, getting lost in his sport on an otherwise busy academic day. Think about this guy’s daily dedication and discipline to work on his own. It’s inspiring.
“I’m really blessed they gave me the opportunity to do that,” Chen said. “They’ve even adjusted their schedule based on what I’ve been able to do. I don’t think they’ve ever done that for anyone else, so it’s a huge honor to accommodate time for me.”
What’s it like training solo? Chen pointed out toward Ashley Wagner, a 2014 Olympic bronze medalist, warming up on the Dunkin’ Donuts ice.
“I’m used to training with top skaters like Ashley,” Chen said. “So it’s different. There are pros and cons with everything. It’s not great that I can’t train with my coach (Rafael Arutyunyan) all the time. At the same time, he has made me pretty self-sufficient on the ice. I’m able to plan my program and training sessions appropriately.
“Having the ice to myself does allow me to do whatever I feel is necessary at the time without worrying about other people. That’s helpful.”
It is in talking, messaging and sending videos to Arutyunyan, Chen can sharpen his training. It is with study groups where Chen can find a sense of community and camaraderie.
“I love that,” he said. “Yale does a great job of making you feel your part of a community.”
Chen is performing in nine of the 13 stops on the Stars On Ice tour. Friday was his final day of classes. Saturday brought Providence. Sunday brought Worcester. He’s back at Yale this week for Reading Period. After that, finals. So he will miss the three Midwestern stops the first week of May, but will hop back with Stars On Ice.
“It’s different than competition,” Chen said. “It’s oriented a lot more toward having a good time on the ice and, with the lights and everything, drawing the crowd in with an exciting performance. Competition is so technical, all your elements, all your requirements. This is fun.”
And with that Nathan Chen headed for the ice and a week of preparing for finals. Last month he told the New York Times that you may have the glory of a gold medal, but then what happens with the rest of your life?
“At the end of the day, what we’ve done outside of school doesn’t really indicate what’s going to happen within your academic life,” Chen said on Saturday. “You’re trying to establish your place in the academic community and what we do becomes a sort of side job. Knowing what these people can do at Yale in and out of the classroom at the same time has been inspiring to some to some extent and definitely reassuring to know I’m capable of doing the same.”
The Boosted Board just helps Nathan Chen get to where he’s going a litter faster.