Chen soars to personal best and US short program victory

2020-01-26 -

GREENSBORO, N.C. >> Coming off illness and spending much of his days as a full-time college student, Nathan Chen shouldn’t have been capable of setting a personal best Saturday at the U.S. Figure Skating Championships.

Then again, maybe it’s wise to expect only greatness from the three-time defending champion and winner of the last two world championships.

Chen, who hasn’t lost an event since he struggled in the 2018 Olympics short program, soared far above the ice — and the competition — to win the short at nationals. His margin is so massive, 114.13 points to 100.99 for second-place Jason Brown, that Chen probably could power skate through Sunday’s free program and still win.

“It was one of my best,” the always understated Chen said, “really calm and paced. I felt in control of everything I was doing in the program.”

That’s how it tends to go for Chen, who is on target to become the first man to win four consecutive U.S. titles since 1988. Not even flu-like symptoms that curtailed his training earlier this month, nor the heavy class load at Yale, nor being separated by a continent from his coach, Rafael Arutunian, slows him. Chen set the U.S. championships high in last year’s short program at 113.42. His free skate and overall totals from 2019 clearly are in reach. It sometimes seems even the ceiling of the arena is within reach as he takes off on quads or triple axels.

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Chen soars to personal best and US short program victory

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