The men kicked off the individual competition at the Winter Olympic Games in Beijing on Tuesday local time, and Team USA's
Nathan Chen claimed the top spot on the leaderboard after delivering the short program of his much-celebrated career. The 22-year-old earned a total of 113.97 points—a new world record, outscoring World silver medalist Yuma Kagiyama from Japan by more than five points to take the early lead. Chen now owns the world record for the short program, free skate and total score in international men's competition.
"The scores are out of my control, and I definitely wasn't expecting that," Chen said. "I am just very happy with the way that I skated and just happy to be here."
Chen appeared to be relaxed in the opening pose of his "La Boheme" by Charles Aznavour masterpiece, but his performance was anything but casual. The six-time U.S. champion navigated the landmine of technical elements with increased intensity, pumping his fist in the air in celebration after his closing combination spin.
"I almost never do stuff like that. I guess it's indicative of how I felt in that moment—it was kind of a little break in character there, but I was just very happy," he said. "There's a whole spectrum of emotions that you can feel in one moment—happiness and relief. It certainly felt great."
Despite having the weight of the memory of his 2018 Olympic short program on his shoulders, Chen demonstrated why he has dominated the international scene for the past four years. The three-time World champion opened with an flawless quadruple flip, a jump that has given Chen fits throughout the season. He followed that up with a strong triple Axel and closed with a quad Lutz-triple toe loop combination in the bonus that received nearly four points in grade of execution.
"It definitely means a lot to be able to have the opportunity to come back to an Olympics and have the opportunity to do two short programs and have them go as well as I could have hoped," Chen said. "It definitely means a lot to me."
Heading into the free skate, Chen will face off against Japan's Kagiyama and 2018 Olympic silver medalist Shoma Uno, who finished in third place.
2014 Olympian
Jason Brown finished in sixth place—a triumph for the 27-year-old whose goal for this competition was to skate the performances of his life. He is halfway there, as he finished with a whopping 97.24 points, a career high for the 2015 U.S. champion. Following the performance, Brown embraced his coaches Tracey Wilson and Brian Orser, and gave a visible sigh of relief.
"It has been an eight-year buildup of getting back to this point—and just every single day trying to find that belief in myself that I can do it and that I'm worthy," Brown said of his performance. "It's like each step along the mountain you are trying to keep climbing (without) looking back too often—just staying focused on that journey. It was such an incredible moment and I got to share that with Tracy and Brian. That became the cherry on the top."
Though he competed without a quad in the short, the story for Brown was and has always been about quality and artistry. With his electric Nina Simone "Sinnerman" short program, Brown earned high grades of execution for each of his technical elements, but the star of the performance here was the program components. As he masterfully interpreted the story of a man standing the trial of Judgement Day, Brown amassed scores as high as 10 for interpretation and no lower than nines across the board. His program component score was the second best of the night behind his teammate, Chen.
"I have the upmost respect for what these guys are doing and how they're pushing the sport technically. I'm just in absolute awe," he said after the competition. "I would love, love, love to be one of those skaters that could push this sport in that direction, but that's not how the chips fell for me. I'm going to push it the way that I know how, and I think one of the coolest things when it comes to skating is that when everybody steps on the ice, they had can have their own unique style. I don't want anyone to ever forget that, and I'm so proud to continue to show and prove to everyone at home that the artistry is and should be something valued and important."
Earlier in the day, it was announced that freshly crowned Olympic team event silver medalist
Vincent Zhou was forced to withdraw from the competition due to testing positive for COVID-19. The 21-year-old was hoping to make a run for the podium in the individual event after a sixth-place finish four years ago in PyeongChang.
"It seems pretty unreal," Zhou said in an announcement on Instagram. "Since the start of the pandemic, I've taken all the precautions I can. I've isolated myself so much that the loneliness I felt in the last month or two has been crushing at times. The enormity of the situation but just the pain of it all is it's pretty insane but I do recognize that this absolutely does not define me as an athlete. As a person I am more than just another positive COVID test; I am more than just another face in the crowd.
While it was always my dream to medal on an Olympic stage, which I did accomplish before this happened, the overarching dream was just to skate. If I didn't love this, I wouldn't still be doing it. I know I love this. That passion goes a long way."
Though Zhou's competition experience in Beijing has come to an unfortunate end, the 2019 World bronze medalist was hopeful that his season will end on a high note.
"Hopefully I will have the opportunity to represent Team USA at the World Championships, and I will be back stronger … and I will be back better," he said near the end of his statement. "This is not the end—this is a set up for a bigger comeback."
The finale of the men's competition kicks off at 9:30 a.m. on Thursday, Feb. 10 (8:30 p.m. ET on Feb. 9). Fans can watch the event live on NBC's Primetime cover and on USA Network.
