Men's Short Program
The jumps weren't up to his lofty standard, but joyous, free-wheeling performance quality – plus superb spins and steps – helped give Nathan Chen a healthy lead after Friday's short program at Skate America.
Performing to Fanfare Ciocarlia's "Caravan," with choreography by Shae-Lynn Bourne, the U.S. and World champion opened with a strong triple Axel but turned out of his next jump, an underrotated quadruple flip, and was unable to complete a combination. Instead, he tacked a triple toe loop on to his triple Lutz.
The rest of the program, a breezy concoction of shoulder shakes, sharp turns and playful movements, was stellar. It earned 90.58 points, putting Chen nearly 8.5 points ahead of former training partner Michal Brezina of the Czech Republic.
"I'm happy with the performance," Chen said. "Obviously the jumps weren't up to what I want them to be, but it's early in the season and there's plenty of time for growth."
Time has been in short supply for Chen, who is balancing his competition schedule with a full freshman course load at Yale University in New Haven, Connecticut. Training largely on his own, on campus and at a nearby rink, he uses FaceTime to consult long distance with California-based coach Rafael Arutunian.
"Whenever I have any issues I will definitely give him a call and try to show him what's going on, and he will send video of Michal or Romain (Ponsart) doing exercises, and that is something I will try to work into my training while I'm in Connecticut and he's in California," Chen said.
"l really make sure I'm not getting worse and worse every time he sees me," he added.
Despite the time crunch and coaching challenges, Chen has no plans to lessen his quadruple jump output. For his free skate on Sunday, he plans four or five quads, including some combination of toe loops, flips and Lutzes.
"Quads are very important, something I definitely will keep implementing, keep working on," he said. "I definitely get the most enjoyment out of doing quads, even in practice. That's something I still want to bring to the table in competition."
The 19-year-old, who is undeclared but on the pre-med track at Yale, is sticking to his "wait-and-see" attitude about his balancing act despite endless media questions and healthy skepticism about how he can possibly maintain both his athletic form and his grades. Missing a few jumps in his short program here did nothing to dampen his determination.
"It's fun, actually; it's something totally new for me," Chen said. "Of course I did (high) school, but it was an online program, nothing on the level I'm doing now. Â It's great to be able to be in a completely new atmosphere. I've been in California for the past six years or so, and I was training with the best skaters, but it's great to be able to step a little away from that and focus on what is going to go on after my skating career."
Brezina, who landed a strong quad Salchow-triple toe loop combination but popped a triple flip into a single, sits second with 82.09 points. Malaysia's Julian Zhi Jie Yee is a surprising third with 81.52 points, while Russian veteran Sergei Voronov is fourth with 78.18 points. Italy's Matteo Rizzo is less than a tenth of a point behind Voronov.
Vincent Zhou had mixed feelings about his short program: happy about his performance, but disappointed in his marks.
The U.S. bronze medalist, whose summer training was severely curtailed by back pain, skated a mature and heartfelt program to "Exogenesis: Symphony Part 3" by Muse, choreographed by Lori Nichol. He had the toughest jump content of the event, including a quadruple Lutz-triple toe loop combination and quadruple flip, and seemed to land his jumps cleanly.
But the technical panel rated both of his quads, plus his triple Axel, underrotated, and he placed sixth with 76.38 points.
"It was a good step up not only from my training over the summer or lack thereof, but also from last year," Zhou, who turns 18 on Oct. 25, said. "I had a good time out there. It's a good reminder of why I still do this sport. It just feels so good to put out a performance like that."
Still, the deductions – taken on both base value and grade of execution (GOE) – stung.
"Whatever goes on there is not up to me," Zhou said. "I have to not let it get to my head and keep doing what I do. I will say I've spent a lot of time ensuring that my jumps are clean, and making small technical changes to facilitate the rotation, so it's not like I'm completely ignoring the problem."
Tammy Gambill, who coaches Zhou at Colorado Springs' World Arena, disagrees with some of the deductions.
"I thought they were very harsh on both of the quads," Gambill said. "He actually did the quad Lutz right in front of us and the landing looked backwards to me, and the flip was even better. Yes, I think the Axel was probably under, but that was about it."
Making his Grand Prix debut, Jimmy Ma brought the heat with an up-tempo jam featuring "Mi Gente" by J Balvin, Willy William and Beyoncé, cutting loose in a step sequence featuring sliding, full-body movements and snappy turns.
Ma's triple Axel, done out of a spread eagle entrance, was superb, but he fell on an opening quad toe loop and took a step in between jumps in his triple flip-triple toe loop combination. Still, his 71.53 points is a new personal best, and puts him in seventh place.
"It could be a lot better, it could be a lot more like what I do at home," Ma, who trains in Euless, Texas, under Darlene and Peter Cain, said. "I just feel like I need to learn how to really execute when it matters. That's basically it."
After lighting up social media with last season's "Turn Down for What" short program, Ma and choreographer Nikolai Morozov were challenged to find a similarly lively vehicle.
"It was a huge process," Ma said. "It needed to have the same energy and be culturally relevant; be different, but not so different. So many ideas were thrown around. There was a lot of arguing, a lot of expletives. We were just trying to figure something out."
"When we found this piece, we knew it would work," he added. "We had a lot of fun choreographing it."
The men's event concludes with the free skate on Sunday afternoon.
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Pairs Short Program
The top two U.S. pairs teams at Skate America left the Angel Of The Winds Arena in Everett, Washington, on Friday night disappointed with mistakes made in their short programs, but optimistic about what the rest of the competition and season holds for them.
Ashley Cain and Timothy LeDuc paced the three American teams, finishing fourth with a score of 57.72. U.S. champions and Olympic Team Event bronze medalists Alexa Scimeca-Knierim and Chris Knierim are fifth heading into Saturday afternoon's free skate with 57.31 points. Nica Digerness and Danny Neudecker, making their Grand Prix Series debut, are seventh in the eight-team field with 51.56 points.
"We let the program get away from us a little," said Cain, who with LeDuc performed a playful, jive piece to "Bella Belle" by the Electric Swing Circus. "I felt like we weren't all the way into the performance. It's weird because we were ready. We just need to learn from this and move on."
"We really wanted to deliver for the fans and create that moment for them," LeDuc added. "That's what we want to do now in the free skate."
Their mistakes included a fall by LeDuc in the team's side-by-side triple loops, and Cain stepped out of the landing on the team's throw triple Lutz.
The Knierims performed an edgy and detail-rich program to "Castle" by Halsey, which was choreographed by Benoit Richaud. Their black and gold unitards completed their transformative look.
Mistakes on their side-by-side triple Salchows and a fall by Alexa on their step sequence cost the veteran team key points.
"It's just taken longer to get together than we'd like, but with all the changes we've made this season, it's not going to come together right away," said Chris.
"We see the big picture rather than just seeing a short success. I mean, it's upsetting not to skate to your potential, but on the other hand it's hard to expect that you are going to go out and skate clean programs after a couple of months of making such a big change. It's step by step and day by day."
Digerness and Neudecker skated first and delivered a well-received program to "The Rose" by Bette Midler. Digerness fell on the team's side by side triple toe loops, but they rebounded to finish strong.
"I feel like we got our levels," Digerness said. "The jump needed a little more speed going into it."
"It was kind of nerve-wracking going first," Neudecker said. "The crowd was awesome and I felt at home, felt relaxed on the ice."
It was a homecoming for Neudecker, who grew up near Seattle in Newcastle. He spent the day before competition sightseeing downtown and had dinner at his sister's, who lives in Everett.
"It was great meeting his family," Dignerness said.
Evgenia Tarasova and Vladimir Morozov, the 2018 World silver medalists and two-time and reigning European champions, lead the event with 71.24 points. Their Russian country mates, Alisa Efimova and Alexander Korovin, sit second with 62.38 points. Germany's Minerva Fabienne Hase and Nolan Seegert are third with a score of 60.04.
