Nathan Chen has many titles: Quad King [1]. Six-time national champ [2]. Three-time world champ [3]. And now? Totally chill Olympian.
The pressure is on for Chen, a favorite for individual figure skating gold at the 2022 Beijing Olympics [4]. He returns to claim redemption after falling in the Pyeongchang 2018 men's short program and finishing off the podium despite a solid free skate. Chen, now 22, said in a Winter Games virtual media summit [5] this past October, "[H]eading into 2018, I definitely had a lot of rituals that I swore by, and I did everything. I did all the right steps, went to the Olympics, and did not skate well." This time, he was ready to go, seemingly sans nerves.
Chen could be seen throwing around a football prior to the men's short-program portion of the team event on Feb. 4 (Feb. 3 in the US) — calm, casual, perhaps strategically warming up the arms. What came next was truly brilliant: performing his memorable "La Bohème" routine [6], he executed his jumps with ease and melted into the choreography to score a massive 111.71. This was a personal best for him [7] and also the second-highest score ever recorded in a short program, NBC reports [8].
Nathan Chen: Figure skater. Quad King. Football quarterback. #WinterOlympics [9] pic.twitter.com/CH3ySSeRk1 [10]
— NBC Olympics (@NBCOlympics) February 4, 2022 [11]
Afterward, he told NBC's Andrea Joyce [12], "I mean, honestly, I'm just here to have fun, and I was able to do that. So I'm really happy." Pressure? What pressure? Spectators and fans certainly felt it (as demonstrated by my coworker's panicked Slack message: "I AM NERVOUS"). We all felt it, but did he? It's just another day in the freezing-cold office.
Chen's first-place finish in the men's short program gave Team USA 10 points. This weekend is packed with team-competition events that wrap up with the women's free skate on Sunday, Feb. 6, at 10:35 p.m. ET [13].
Ahead, check out Chen's spectacular short program, as well as some standout photos from his night. He started his repeat Games the best way he knew how: strolling in and dominating. (Like a totally chill Olympian.)
Nathan Chen's 2022 Olympics Team-Event Short Program
You can also watch it on YouTube here [15].
Nathan Chen: Totally Chill Olympian
