Nathan Chen hit the practice ice at Everett, Washington's Angel Of The Winds Arena on Thursday, reeling off quadruple toe loop combinations – plus quad Lutzes and flips – with a lot more assurance than he showed at Japan Open a few weeks ago.
"I definitely miss this," Chen told reporters. "I prefer this way over midterms."
The World champion isn't playing hooky. He's on October break from Yale University in New Haven, Connecticut, taking time away from the classroom to defend his title at Skate America, which runs Oct. 19-21.
Chen feels far more prepared for his first Grand Prix event of the season, than he did for the free skate-only Japan Open, held in Saitama at the beginning of October. There, missed jumps put the U.S. champion fourth in a field of six, more than 40 points behind winner Shoma Uno.
"The second week of school, I got really sick, and it definitely took its toll (in my) training and school," Chen says. "It was a cold that turned into an infection."
"I don't want to blame anything, but that contributed to me not having enough practice time going into Japan," he adds. "Definitely, having a good week of training has boosted my confidence."
Not that combining training with a full course load – including classes in chemistry, math, English and Spanish – is easy. Chen trains on his own, on Yale's campus and at a rink 30 minutes or so away. No coach, no training partners – "Just on my own, or with some little kids." When jumps go awry, he sets up FaceTime on his phone and sends the video to coach Rafael Arutunian back in Southern California.
"It has its ups and downs," Chen says. "It's definitely nice having ice to myself. I can play as much music as I like. But I definitely miss Romain (Ponsart) and Mariah (Bell) and all the amazing athletes I train with in California. Not having them is the big thing that's lacking in my skating. But still, ultimately, I have to get my job done during practice for the next event, so I can't really worry too much about being lonely on the ice."
For Chen, "getting it done" means hitting quads, and he's not backing off of them in Everett. While quad loop and Salchow are tabled for now, he's still planning three different four-rotation jumps.
"It will be quad Lutz, definitely two quad toes, triple Axel, loop is probably going to be triple, and then the end is probably triple Lutz," Chen says, running through the jumps in his free skate, set to Woodkid's "Land of All."
The jumps are working now; whether they will still work as the months away from Arutunian's watchful eye grind on is still up in the air. Chen, who entered Yale on the pre-med track, may eventually adjust his academic schedule, his competition schedule or both. One looming responsibility is his lab work, which he says takes five hours per day.
"Every student is allowed one full year, or two full semesters off without withdrawing, so that's something I'll probably take advantage of," Chen says. "It depends on how I'm able to manage skating and school … This semester, there are no labs. If that takes up too much time, I'll have to figure out the next best approach."
For now, though, he's happy with the balance. His cold is gone, his quads are back and he has a respite, however brief, from his books.
"It's been a process," he says. "But things are definitely looking better than they were a couple weeks ago. (I'm) definitely figuring out how to manage both my course load and maintaining what I need to do on the ice. Things are definitely getting a little more positive."
