Nathan Chen Wins Sixth Consecutive U.S. Title to Close Out 2022 Toyota U.S. Figure Skating Championships

It may not have been his best performance, but Nathan Chen got it done one more time.

Chen (Salt Lake Figure Skating) won his sixth consecutive U.S. title to wrap up competition at the 2022 Toyota U.S. Figure Skating Championships at Bridgestone Arena in Nashville, Tennessee, joining just Dick Button (1946-52) and Roger Turner (1929-34) as the only U.S. men ever to accomplish the feat.

"It's entirely based on my team," Chen said of his accomplishment. "I've had really great people in my life, in my career, that have really helped me to get to where I am now. It's been close to 10 years that I've been working with Rafael (Arutunian), and a lot of the success that I've had is definitely credited to him. I can't do this all by myself."

Chen scored 212.62 points for his free skate to music from the Rocketman soundtrack, giving him a total of 328.01 overall. He outdistanced Ilia Malinin (Washington DSC), who took silver, by 25.53 points despite a fall on his quadruple flip – and in his step sequence. They were joined on the podium by Vincent Zhou (SC of San Francisco) in third place with 290.16 points and Jason Brown (Skokie Valley SC) in fourth with 289.78.

"Today went okay," Chen said with a laugh. "I mean, I made a couple silly mistakes, but I had a lot of fun, and the crowd was amazing.

"Silly things happen all the time. Am I to expect that? Probably not, but it was kind of a dumb little moment. I just got really wrapped up in that moment and just lost my footing. It is what it is, and I'll make sure I don't do that again."

The three-time World champion switched back to his Rocketman program from the truncated 2019-20 season for these U.S. Championships, and is currently undecided as to what his 2022 Olympic programs will be.

If this was Rocketman's last flight, Chen says he's glad he was able to have fun and laugh off his step-sequence mishap.

"In a skater's career, we only have a set number of competitions we can do," Chen said. "As I have these opportunities, I want to make the most of them and be able to look back on my skating career some 10, 20 years from now and be like, 'I really enjoyed the time I was there. I really had a lot of fun on the ice.' And this program is definitely a great vehicle to do that. So as much as I can, I try to remind myself of that, and I'm glad that I was able to do that today."

The Olympic Winter Games are less than a month away. Chen will presumably head to China with sky-high expectations, but for him, the goal is always the same.

"Every season, my goal is to keep trying to improve on each competition," Chen said. "I definitely have a ways to go before the Olympics. I'm really just looking forward to going back (home) and working for that."
 
Meanwhile, Malinin, in his debut at the championship level, earned 199.02 points for his free skate to "Nobody Knows" by Autograf and "Golden Age" by Woodkid, giving him 302.48 points overall.

"I'm really grateful for my skate today, and I'm really surprised about how I skated, because I definitely wasn't expecting to skate this good, and especially to place second," Malinin said. "So I'm really glad to be here, competing with these top-tier athletes. I've been working really hard with Raf (Rafael Arutunian) and trying to improve everything I've been doing, and I think it really worked out."

The 2019 U.S. novice champion won both of his Junior Grand Prix assignments this season.

"Even though I've trained for this moment and know that I can do the best I possibly can, I was a bit surprised on how easily everything came together," Malinin said. "I'm just really excited for this moment."
Zhou captured his second career bronze medal, his free skate to music from Crouching Tiger, Hidden Dragon by Tan Dun; "Rising Sun" by Kiyoshi Yoshida earning 177.38 points.

"I came into today wanting to skate a personal best, and I didn't achieve my goal, so I'm clearly pretty disappointed in myself," Zhou said. "But Nashville has been very, very kind to all of us athletes, and I'm just really grateful to have the opportunity to compete here and have the opportunity to make a case for the Olympic team."

Brown narrowly took the pewter medal, missing bronze by 0.38 points, and earned 188.94 points for his free skate to music from the Schindler's List soundtrack by John Williams.

"It's been a really tough go to get here, and I don't mean just in the last 72 hours," Brown said with a laugh. "But just in the last four years, and everything leading up to this point, and me turning a page after 2018. I think this was a really trying time, and I was doing my best to stay focused, stay grounded, focus on what I can control. It was just finally that moment of release when that program was over."

The men's medals were the last to be awarded in Nashville. First were the women, with Mariah Bell (Rocky Mountain FSC), Karen Chen (Peninsula SC), Isabeau Levito (SC of Southern New Jersey) and Gabriella Izzo (SC of Boston) comprising the podium.

In pairs, Ashley Cain-Gribble and Timothy LeDuc (SC of New York/Los Angeles FSC) won their second U.S. title ahead of Jessica Calalang and Brian Johnson (DuPage FSC/SC of New York), Audrey Lu and Misha Mitrofanov (SC of Boston), and Emily Chan and Spencer Howe (SC of Boston).

In ice dance, Madison Chock and Evan Bates (All Year FSC/Ann Arbor FSC) won the title for the third time, while Madison Hubbell and Zachary Donohue (Lansing SC) took silver, Kaitlin Hawayek and Jean-Luc Baker (Detroit SC/Seattle SC) won bronze and Caroline Green and Michael Parsons (Pavilion SC of Cleveland Heights/Washington FSC) took pewter.

Fans can watch live and on-demand on Peacock Premium. Visit the 2022 Toyota U.S. Figure Skating Championships Virtual Fan Experience for a behind the scenes look at the event.