Nathan Chen (born May 5, 1999) is an American figure skater. He is the 2022 Olympic champion,[12] a three-time World champion (2018, 2019, 2021), the 2017 Four Continents champion, a three-time Grand Prix Final champion (2017, 2018, 2019), a ten-time Grand Prix medalist (8 golds, 1 silver, 1 bronze), and a six-time U.S. national champion (2017–22). At the junior level, Chen is the 2015–16 Junior Grand Prix Final champion, 2013–14 Junior Grand Prix Final bronze medalist, 2014 World Junior bronze medalist, and a six-time Junior Grand Prix medalist (5 golds, 1 silver). Chen also helped the U.S. Olympic team win the bronze medal in the 2018 team event, and the silver medal in the 2022 team event.
Regarded as one of the greatest figure skaters of all time, Chen has the highest winning percentage in competitions in the modern era, and had the longest win streak in history from 2018-2021. Recognized for performing the most technically difficult programs in the world, Chen is credited for pushing the boundaries of athletic ability in the sport.[13] Known as the "Quad King" for his mastery of quadruple jumps, Chen is the first skater in history to have landed five types of quadruple jumps in competition—the toe loop, Salchow, loop, flip, and Lutz—as well as eight quadruple jumps across a single competition (2018 World Championships).[14] He is the current world record holder for men in the short program, free skate and combined total[15] under the ISU Judging System.
Chen is the first Asian American man to earn an Olympic medal in single skating.[16] Chen was named to the "2020 Forbes 30 Under 30 Sports List" by Forbes Magazine.[17] Chen was named to Time Magazine's TIME 100 List of the 100 Most Influential People of 2022 in May 2022 and he was nominated for an ESPY Award in the "Best Olympian, Men's Sports" category in June 2022.[18][19] In August 2022, Chen was announced as one of Harper's Bazaar's 2022 Icons[20] featured in the September 2022 Harper's Bazaar issue.[21]
Personal life
Nathan Chen was born in Salt Lake City, Utah, to Chinese immigrant parents, Zhidong Chen and Hetty Wang,[22][23] who originated from Laibin, Guangxi, and Beijing respectively.[24] Chen's father is a research scientist and his mother is a medical translator.[23] Chen is the younger brother of Alice, Tony, Colin, and Janice Chen, formerly of the Jennifer Doudna lab and co-founder of Mammoth Biosciences.[25] Chen attended West High School in Salt Lake City and Rim of the World High School in Lake Arrowhead, California, and graduated from California Connections Academy.[26] In addition to figure skating, he trained in ballet with Ballet West Academy and competed in gymnastics at the state and regional levels for seven years up to level 9.[27][28][29] He also played piano as a child and more recently the guitar.[30][31] His Chinese name is Chén Wēi.[32]
Chen enrolled at Jonathan Edwards College at Yale University in the fall of 2018, majoring in Statistics and Data Science. He took a leave of absence after his sophomore year to prepare for the 2022 Winter Olympics in Beijing and returned to college in the fall of 2022. He is due to graduate in 2024.[33]
Skating career
Early years
Chen started figure skating at age three in a pair of his sister's skates.[34] He entered his first skating competition in 2003. From 2007 to 2009, he qualified to compete in the U.S. Junior Nationals at the juvenile and intermediate levels. He placed 10th and 3rd in juveniles at the 2007 and 2008 Junior Nationals. At the 2009 Junior Nationals, he won the intermediate men's silver medal.
Chen advanced to the novice level in the 2009–10 season. He became the youngest novice champion in the history of U.S. Figure Skating at age 10, winning the national novice title at the 2010 U.S. Championships[35] in Spokane, Washington.[36] Due to his young age, he opted to remain at the novice level for the 2010–2011 season and defended his novice title at the 2011 U.S. Championships in Greensboro, North Carolina.[37][38]
In the 2011–2012 season, Chen moved up to the junior level. He was coached by Genia Chernyshova and also traveled to Lake Arrowhead, California, to work with jump specialist Rafael Arutyunyan.[39] Arutyunyan became his main coach in mid-December 2011.[40] Chen won the junior men's title at the 2012 U.S. Championships in San Jose, California on January 24, 2012.[41] Making his first international appearance, he won the novice men's event at the 2012 Gardena Spring Trophy in Selva Val Gardena, Italy.[42][43]
Junior career
2012–2013 season: Junior international debut
Chen became age-eligible (13 years old) to compete in the ISU Junior Grand Prix (JGP) series.[41] His first assignment was JGP Austria in Linz from September 12–16, 2012.[44] He won the gold medal with the highest score (222.00 points) ever awarded at the time in the JGP series.[45] He withdrew from the 2012 JGP final after sustaining a lower leg injury.[46] Staying at the junior level, he won the junior men's bronze medal at the 2013 U.S. Championships in Omaha, Nebraska, on January 22, 2013.[47]
2013–2014 season
Staying at the junior level, he was assigned to JGP events in Mexico and Belarus. In both events, he won gold medals.[48][49] These qualified him for the JGP Final in Japan, where he won the junior men's bronze medal.[50]
Chen during the junior men's medal ceremony at the 2014 U.S. Championships
On January 9, 2014, Chen broke the six-year U.S. junior men's record of 213.76 at the 2014 U.S. Championships in Boston, Massachusetts and won his second U.S. junior title.[51] His final combination spin in the short program received 4.86 points, the highest among active male skaters in the world.[52]
Chen was awarded a bronze medal at the 2014 World Junior Championships in Sofia, Bulgaria in March 2014.[53] The results of Chen and his teammates, Jordan Moeller and Shotaro Omori, gained three entries for the United States to the 2015 World Junior Championships.
2014–2015 season: Senior national debut and world junior championship
Chen debuted at the senior level in 2014. At the Pacific Sectional Championships in November 2014, he landed a clean quadruple toe loop and double toe loop combination (4T+2T) in his free skate,[54] winning the senior men's division, and advanced to the 2015 U.S. Championships in Greensboro, North Carolina. He developed a growth-related heel injury a week before the national championships, and competed with modified versions of his short and long programs.[55] He placed eighth overall in his senior national championship debut in January 2015.
After the competition, Chen was named to the U.S. team for the 2015 World Junior Championships.[56] He finished 4th at the event in Tallinn, Estonia, on March 8, 2015.
2015–2016 season
In the 2015–16 ISU Junior Grand Prix series, Chen won gold in both Colorado Springs, Colorado and in Logroño, Spain. In December 2015, he stood atop the podium at the JGP Final in Barcelona.[57]
In January 2016, at the U.S. Championships, Chen became the first American man to land two quadruple jumps in the short program.[58] On January 24, he became the first male singles skater to land four quadruple jumps in a long program. He finished third overall behind Adam Rippon and Max Aaron, the former not attempting any quads and the latter landing two. This event reignited the long-standing debate within the figure skating community over whether artistry should trump athleticism.[59] While attempting a jump during exhibitions on the same day, Chen sustained an avulsion injury to his left hip, leading to surgery on January 27.[60] He withdrew from the 2016 World Junior Championships in Debrecen, Hungary, and the 2016 World Championships in Boston.[60] Chen underwent a month of rehabilitation at the U.S. Olympic Training Center (OTC) in Chula Vista, California,[61] and by May was training off-ice at OTC in Colorado Springs, Colorado.[62] He resumed training around July.[61]
Senior career
2016–2017 season: Senior international debut
Chen at the 2016–17 Grand Prix Final
For jump abbreviations, see figure skating jumps.
Ahead of the 2016–2017 season, Chen traveled to Canton, Michigan, to have his programs choreographed by Marina Zueva. "I spent a week there, and we hit it off really well. We talked it over and thought it'd be a good idea to go to Michigan and work on PCS a little bit."[63] By September 2016, six months after his hip surgery, Zueva and Oleg Epstein were coaching him in Canton.[64] In preparation for his international senior debut, he began training the 4Lz and 4F.[65]
Chen began his 2016–2017 season with a gold medal at the 2016 CS Finlandia Trophy, 7.71 points ahead of the silver medalist Patrick Chan of Canada. He then competed at two Grand Prix events. For his Grand Prix series debut at the 2016 Trophée de France in Paris, he cleanly landed a quadruple lutz and triple toe combination jump and a quadruple flip in both his short and long programs. His short program scored 92.85, breaking the American short program record of 90.30 held by Olympic champion Evan Lysacek since the 2010 Winter Olympics.[66] After finishing fourth in France, he returned to Arutyunyan in California.[63] At the 2016 NHK Trophy in Sapporo, Chen placed second behind Olympic champion Yuzuru Hanyu, qualifying him for the Grand Prix Final (GPF) in Marseille, France.
Chen at the 2017 U.S. Championships
In December at the GPF, Chen placed 5th in the short program but won the free skate with a performance that included four quadruple jumps. Earning a total score of 282.85 points, he won the silver medal, behind Yuzuru Hanyu, and became the second-youngest male skater (age 17) to medal at the GPF after Evgeni Plushenko, who won his first GPF medal at age 16 in 1999. He spent two weeks later that month working in Canton, Michigan, modifying the element order and choreography of his programs.[63]
At the 2017 U.S. Championships in Kansas City, Missouri, Chen performed two quadruple jumps (4Lz+3T and 4F) in the short program and five in the free skate (4Lz+3T, 4F, 4T+2T+2Lo, 4T and 4S), the first skater to do so.[67] He won the U.S. title with the highest scores in U.S. Figure Skating history (106.39 in the short program, 212.08 in the free skate, 318.47 overall). Following the event, he and teammate Jason Brown were named to the 2017 World team by U.S. Figure Skating.[68][69]
In February, Chen won the 2017 Four Continents, becoming the third person to score over 100 points in a short program[70] and over 300 points in an International Skating Union competition.[71][72]
In April, at the World Championships in Helsinki, the boots that he had begun using after Four Continents were on the verge of falling apart; however, he decided to continue using them, using duct tape and hockey laces, because he felt that the back-up boots were too new.[73][74] He attempted a record total of eight quadruple jumps, two in the short program and six in the long program, but fell on two quadruple jumps in his long program, and placed sixth overall at the competition.[75] He and teammate Jason Brown, who placed seventh, secured three places for the United States in the men's event at the 2018 Winter Olympics.
Chen rounded off the season with a 3rd place team and 2nd place personal finish at the 2017 World Team Trophy in Tokyo.
2017–2018 season: Pyeongchang Olympics & first World title
How Nathan Chen's Quad Record Is A Game Changer For The 2018 Olympics
Chen started the 2017–2018 season by winning the 2017 CS U.S. International Figure Skating Classic in September, debuting his short program "Nemesis" choreographed by Shae-Lynn Bourne and free skate "Mao's Last Dancer" choreographed by Lori Nichol. He landed his first quad loop in the free skate and became the first skater to land five different quads (4T, 4S, 4Lo, 4F and 4Lz) in competition.[76] He was selected to represent Team USA alongside Jeremy Abbott, Karen Chen, and Mirai Nagasu at the Japan Open. There, his free program earned second place behind Javier Fernandez.
Chen won his first Grand Prix title at the 2017 Rostelecom Cup in Moscow.[77] After placing first in the short program and second in the free skate, he defeated the reigning World and Olympic champion Yuzuru Hanyu of Japan.[78] At 2017 Skate America, Chen won his second Grand Prix title, finishing ahead of teammate Adam Rippon.[79] He skated the short program, which earned him a new personal best score, with a left blade that had a nick in the outside edge.[80] He replaced the blade for the free skate but stated afterward, "I think that was a bad call. It was a little too sharp on the inside edge, and every time I pressed into it for sal(chow), toe and even flip, it would catch into the ice way harder than I was used to."[81] With two victories, Chen earned the top qualifying spot for the Grand Prix Final.
At the Final in Nagoya, Chen took the lead in the short program and placed first overall, over Shoma Uno of Japan and Mikhail Kolyada of Russia. He became the third American in history to win the Final, the first since Evan Lysacek in 2009. At the 2018 U.S. Championships in San Jose, California, Chen performed a total of seven clean quadruple jumps (two in the short program and five in the free skate) and scored 315.23 to win his second consecutive national title.[82] Following the event, Chen, Adam Rippon, and Vincent Zhou were nominated by U.S. Figure Skating to compete at the 2018 Winter Olympics in Pyeongchang, South Korea as part of the U.S. Olympic Figure Skating Team.[83]
At the 2018 Winter Olympics, Chen placed fourth in the men's short program of the team event, and became the first skater to land a quad flip at the Olympics.[84] Chen won a bronze medal in the team event alongside teammates Mirai Nagasu, Bradie Tennell, Adam Rippon, Alexa Scimeca Knierim, Chris Knierim, Maia Shibutani, and Alex Shibutani,[85] became one of the youngest male figure skating Olympic medalists. Due to nerves in the individual men's event, Chen performed poorly in the short program and placed seventeenth. In the free skate, he made Olympic history by becoming the first man to attempt six quads and land five cleanly. He placed first in the free skate with a score of 215.08, the highest in Olympic history, earning a total score of 297.35 and moved up twelve places[86] to finish in fifth place overall.[87] Chen was invited to perform in the exhibition gala, but withdrew after contracting the flu and left PyeongChang early to avoid infecting any of his American teammates.[88] His commercial sponsors for the Olympics included Coca-Cola,[89]United Airlines,[90] Kellogg's,[91] and Bridgestone.[92]
Chen at the 2018 World Championships
In March at the 2018 World Figure Skating Championships in Milan, Chen placed first in both the short (101.94) and free (219.46) programs. He again attempted and landed six quads in the free program, winning the 2018 world champion title with a total score of 321.40 points and became the second skater to break 320 points after Yuzuru Hanyu. Chen became the first U.S. men's world champion since Evan Lysacek in 2009 and the tenth in history. He was the youngest (18 years 10 months 19 days) men's world champion since Evgeni Plushenko (18 years 4 months 19 days) in 2001. Chen's victory and teammate Max Aaron's eleventh-place finish ensured Team USA three men's places at the next year's World Figure Skating Championships in Japan. His margin of victory over silver medalist Shoma Uno was one of the largest in history at 47.63 points.[93]
2018–2019 season
Chen at the 2018 Internationaux de France
Chen started college at Yale this season. In an in-depth Olympic Channel Facebook Live interview[94] with 2014 Olympic Champion Meryl Davis, Chen expanded on his school, skating, future plans, life, and other interesting topics. Chen: "I love skating. I love competing. I love training. I love to be around all my fellow skaters. But at the end of the day I am not going to be skating for all the rest of my life. There will be a moment I'll have to take a step away from skating and focus on something else. I think right now I am attempting to do both just so I can bridge that gap, so when I am deciding my time in skating is up I can start the second half of my life..."
Chen's assignments for the 2018-19 Grand Prix series were Skate America and Internationaux de France.[95] Fortunately for Chen, Skate America took place during the Yale October recess and Internationaux de France fell during the Thanksgiving recess. The 2018–19 Grand Prix Final began the day before Yale's pre-finals reading period started. And the 2019 World Championships, in Japan, were during Yale's spring break.[96]
At Skate America in Everett, Washington in October, Chen skated to the music of "Caravan" (choreographed by Shae-Lynn Bourne) in the short program and "Land of All" (choreographed by Samuel Chouinard and Marie-France Dubreuil) in the free skate. He won both segments of the competition and defended his title as the men's Skate America champion.[97]
In an interview with ISU about his programs,[98] Chen said: "The short program (Caravan) is a lot of fun.[...] She (Bourne) wants me to dance to the music so that other people are excited to dance as well.[...] I originally chose the piece (Land of All) for the long because I needed something that contrasted the short.[...] The music is the soundtrack to a movie called 'Desierto' and it is about immigration into the U.S. Obviously, I don't want to make my programs about this or anything political but, at the same time, just because it has that deep and darker meaning requires me to add another layer to my skating," he explained.
Chen at the 2018 Internationaux de France
At Internationaux de France in Grenoble in November, Chen fell on his quad flip in the short program and placed third behind Jason Brown and Alexander Samarin entering the free skate. Chen landed three quadruple jumps (4F, 4T and 4T+3T) in the free skate and won the competition with a total score of 271.58. He had now won five consecutive Grand Prix gold medals.
By winning both Skate America and Internationaux de France Chen qualified to compete in 2018–19 Grand Prix Final in Vancouver, Canada.
At the 2018–19 Grand Prix Final in early December, Chen competed with the other five qualifiers, Shoma Uno, Michal Březina, Sergei Voronov, Cha Jun-hwan and Keegan Messing (Olympic champion Yuzuru Hanyu qualified but withdrew due to injury). Chen had mistakes in both his short and long programs - a missed combination jump in the short program and a fall in the long program, but won both segments of the competition to collect his second GPF title.[99]
The gold medal marks Chen the fourth man after Evgeni Plushenko, Patrick Chan and Yuzuru Hanyu to win consecutive Grand Prix Finals since the event's debut in 1995, and the second man after Evgeni Plushenko to win every one of his Grand Prix competitions in two consecutive seasons.
At the 2019 U.S. Championships in Detroit, Chen gave a strong performance scoring 113.42 for a two-quad short program (official NBC Sports) and 228.80 for a four-quad free skate totaling 342.22 points. Chen became the first man to win three straight national titles since Johnny Weir in 2004–2006.[100] He said, "I'm happy with what I did, and hopefully I can do that in other competitions, The first few jumps are a little like a checklist, and once I get done with that, I can focus on the music and the audience. Nationals is no joke. You can't discount any of these other skaters who are here. I'm really proud of myself with all of the work I put in, and it's an honor to be up here with these two guys. I don't mind the training atmosphere I am in, and I am so thankful Yale has given me the ice time to pursue my dreams outside of school. I feel like I am improving competition to competition. This gives me a lot of confidence going into the future."[101]
Competing at the 2019 World Championships in Saitama, Japan in March, Chen successfully defended his world champion title, and broke the world record for both the free skate and total score, with 216.02 and 323.42 points respectively.[102] The gold in Saitama was Chen's 11th victory out of 12 individual competitions over the past two seasons. He became the first U.S. man to win back-to-back world titles since Scott Hamilton won four in a row from 1981 to 1984. With teammate Vincent Zhou winning the bronze medal, two Americans stood on the men's podium at Worlds for the first time since 1996, when Todd Eldredge won gold and Rudy Galindo took the bronze in Edmonton, Canada.
Chen concluded the season at another event in Japan, the 2019 World Team Trophy, where Team USA won the gold medal.[103]
2019–2020 season
Chen at the 2019 Internationaux de France
Chen opened his season with a free skate at the Japan Open, placing first in the men's event, and contributed to Team North America's bronze medal finish. In the 2019-2020 Grand Prix, Chen defended his title at Skate America in Las Vegas, with his third consecutive win. This was the first time anyone had won Skate America three times consecutively since Todd Eldredge won four from 1994 to 1997.[104] The 44-point margin of victory was the largest ever at Skate America.[105] He then won his second straight Internationaux de France title in Grenoble, and became the first singles skater since Evgeni Plushenko nearly two decades earlier to win eight straight Grand Prix events.[106] In winning two Grand Prix events, Chen qualified for the Grand Prix Final.
At the Grand Prix Final, Chen was widely perceived as the co-favorite for the title alongside Japan's Yuzuru Hanyu. Chen skated cleanly in the short program, setting a new personal best score of 110.38, 0.15 short of Hanyu's short program world record at the time which had been set at the 2018 Rostelecom Cup. Hanyu failed to complete his combination jump, resulting in Chen leading by almost thirteen points going into the free skate.[107] Chen skated cleanly in the free skate and set a new world record for the free skate (224.92 points) and total score (335.30 points), beating Hanyu for the second time since the Olympics.[108] Chen's win made him the first singles skater to win all Grand Prix events in three consecutive seasons.
Suffering from the flu, Chen was only able to fully resume training less than two weeks before the 2020 U.S. Championships. Competing in Greensboro, North Carolina, Chen won his fourth national title and became the first man to win four consecutive U.S. men's titles since Olympic champion Brian Boitano in 1988.[109] He was assigned to compete at the World Championships in Montreal, but these were cancelled as a result of the coronavirus pandemic.[110]
2020–2021 season
With the pandemic still raging, the ISU assigned the Grand Prix series based largely on geographic location, with Chen again set to attend Skate America, and was considered the favorite.[111] He won both the short program and the free skate, with a total score of 299.15, despite popping two planned jumps in the free.[112][113] After the competition, Chen revealed to Olympic Channel[114] that he is taking a break from school to focus on skating and the next Olympics. "(The Olympics) are the end goal," Chen said, "It's the driving force behind a lot of what we do and a lot of the decisions that we make."
Chen made history at the 2021 U.S. Championships, winning his fifth consecutive National title. He became the first man to win five consecutive National titles since Dick Button, who won seven straight from 1946 to 1952. Chen cited Button as inspiration. "It's incredible to try to follow in his footsteps," Chen said of Button. "It means the world. Dick is a true skating icon, and it just feels incredible to be trying to chase something that someone like that has done. I'm nowhere near the level he was at, but it's just cool to be able to be even mentioned in his sort of realm of legendness." During his free performance, Chen attempted five quads, landing four of them cleanly.[115][116]
At the 2021 World Championships in Stockholm, Sweden, Chen placed third after the short program with a score of 98.85, after a fall on the quadruple Lutz. In the free, he placed first with a score of 222.03, with a clean program landing five quads, and won his third world title with a total score of 320.88. Chen became the first man since Patrick Chan (2011–13) and first American (male or female) since Scott Hamilton (1982–84) to win three World titles in a row. In a post competition interview, Chen said he felt he had grown since the 2018 Olympics, when he was seventeenth heading into the free skate: "I think having had that experience now going into this competition, it definitely helps me retain some resiliency, I think. And I think that definitely, you know, thankfully came into play today."[117]
Chen competed as part of the American team at the 2021 World Team Trophy, where he placed first ahead of Yuzuru Hanyu with his combined scores, after also placing first in the short program. His result helped Team USA win the silver medal.[118]
2021–2022 season: Olympic gold medal
Chen began the Olympic season at the 2021 Skate America, where he placed fourth in the short program. He fell on his first quadruple jump. A poor landing on the second quadruple jump meant he was unable to execute the required two-jump combination. He placed second in the free skate despite doubling on two of his six planned quads, finishing in third place overall behind Vincent Zhou and Shoma Uno. Speaking afterward about the end of his winning streak since the 2018 World Championships, Chen said "it's not devastating. It was inevitably going to end as a winning streak at some point in time, and I am really proud of these guys up here."[119] Competing the next week at the 2021 Skate Canada International, Chen rebounded to win both segments of the competition and take the gold medal, with a 48-point margin over silver medalist Jason Brown.[120] Chen's results qualified him to the Grand Prix Final, but it was subsequently cancelled due to restrictions prompted by the Omicron variant.[121]
At the 2022 U.S. Championships in Nashville, Chen won his sixth consecutive men's title, a feat last achieved by the legendary Dick Button 71 years earlier. Chen scored 115.39, a new national record, in the short program and 212.62 in the free skate for a total of 328.01 points.[122][123] After the competition, Chen was named to the American Olympic team along with Zhou and Brown.[124]
Chen began the 2022 Winter Olympics as the American entry in the men's short program of the Olympic team event, where he had skated poorly four years earlier. Delivering a clean skate, he placed first in the segment with a new personal best of 111.71, securing ten points for the American team.[125] He remarked after that "it feels great to have a short program I actually skated well, at an Olympic experience."[126] Team USA would go on to win the silver medal, Chen's second Olympic medal.[127] Two days later, Chen set an international figure skating world-record in the men's short program with a score of 113.97,[128] topping the previous record of 111.82 set by Yuzuru Hanyu in 2020.[129][130] Chen would go on to win the gold medal with a free skate score of 218.63 which included five quad jumps, finishing with a combined score of 332.60.[12] Chen withdrew from the 2022 World Championships due to injury.[131]
Skating technique
Regarded as one of the greatest figure skaters of all time for his technical prowess and impact on the sport,[132][133] Chen has broken multiple world records in his career and currently holds the all-time world records for short program, free program, and combined total scores. He is widely recognized for performing the most technically difficult programs in the world, and is credited for pushing the boundaries of athletic ability in the sport.[134] Chen is the first and currently the only skater to have landed five types of quadruple jumps in competition: the toe loop, Salchow, loop, flip and Lutz. He is also the first skater to land five quads in a free skate program and seven quads in ratified competition at the 2017 Four Continents Figure Skating Championships. He remains the only skater who has landed seven clean (positive grade of execution) quads in one competition, two in the short program and five in the free skate, which he first achieved at the 2019 Grand Prix Final.
Under the new ISU Judging System implemented since the 2018–19 season, Chen holds the highest scores for the following quadruple jumps: 4Lz (16.43), 4F (15.40), 4S (14.83), 4F+3T (20.23), 4Lz+3T (21.21) and the second highest scores for the following quadruple jumps: 4T (13.71), 4T+3T (18.46), 4T+1Eu+3S (17.01), 4T+1Eu+3F (19.14).[135] Chen holds the highest possible ChSq1 score of 5.50 and the highest possible StSq4 score of 5.85 among male and female singles skaters under the new ISU Judging System.[136][137]
Public life
Endorsements
According to Forbes Chen has long term deals with 11 partners, many of which overlap with Team USA’s official sponsorships, including Bridgestone, Panasonic, Comcast, Nike, Toyota and Visa. He also works with consumer brands Grubhub and Airweave.[138][139] Other sponsors leading up to the 2018 and 2022 Winter Olympics included OMEGA, Coca Cola, United Airlines and Kellogg’s.[140][141][142][143]
He also starred in TV spots for the 2022 movie Jurassic World: Dominion with fellow Team USA Olympians Shaun White and Mikaela Shifrin.[144]
In 2021, Chen was part of luxury jewelry designer David Yurman's "My New York" social campaign[145] and partnered with them to create an exclusive bracelet benefiting non-profit collective "Gold House" which is a community of "Asian founders, creative voices and leaders dedicated to unifying the world’s largest populace–Asians and Pacific Islanders–to enable more authentic multicultural representation and societal equity."[146][147][148]
Chen supported the COVID-19 public education campaign "We Can Do This" which was an initiative by the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services.[149][150]He was featured in a vaccine campaign ad shown during the 2022 U.S. Stars On Ice tour.[151] He also got the chance to speak to Dr. Anthony Fauci as part of the "We Can Do This" campaign.[152]
He partnered with Invisalign in October 2022.[153]
Ambassador
In June 2021, Chen was appointed to the Athlete Advisory Committee which is part of the Salt Lake City-Utah Games Committee bidding to bring the Olympic Winter Games back to Salt Lake City in 2030 or 2034.[154]
On August 5, 2022, Chen was named the Lake Placid 2023 FISU World University Games goodwill ambassador. Chen stated that he was happy to be a part of January’s Lake Placid 2023 FISU World University Games and helping to support everyone involved. The Lake Placid 2023 FISU World University Games is set to be held from January 12 to 22.[155][156]
Books and magazines
Chen's memoir "One Jump at a Time: My Story" will be released by HarperCollins on November 22, 2022. The book relates the many highs of his career, along with the challenges, including his family’s determination to find the resources to pay for expensive training, a painful hip injury and surgery in 2016, and a disappointing fifth-place finish at the Olympic Winter Games PyeongChang 2018.[157][158]HarperCollins Children's Books will release Chen's first picture book entitled "Wei Skates On" on February 21, 2023, about a young boy named Wei who learns to find the joy in sports no matter what the outcome.[159][160][161]
He has been featured in magazines such as Vogue,[162] GQ,[163] Harper's Bazaar[20] and Spur Magazine[164][165] and has graced the covers of "World Figure Skating Magazine" and "International Figure Skating Magazine".[166]
Television
On July 12, 2022, Chen made an appearance on the American dance competition television series on NBC's Dancing With Myself as a creator. One creator demonstrates a series of dance moves and each contestant must then perform those moves.[167]
Chen was featured in an episode of Secret Celebrity Renovation on CBS on August 12, 2022. The show gives celebrities the opportunity to gift a renovation to a person who helped guide them to success. For Chen, who acknowledges the many people who have helped him along the way, that meant gifting the Salt Lake City Sports Complex a new skater’s lounge and dressing room.[168][169]
He reunited with all four of his siblings in order to compete on the Steve Harvey-hosted game show Celebrity Family Feud against actor Simu Liu's team. The episode aired on ABC on August 21, 2022.[170]
Chen has been a guest and made appearances on the Today show,[171] The Late Late Show with James Corden,[172] The Tonight Show Starring Jimmy Fallon,[173] Access Hollywood[174] and Good Morning America.[175]
He starred in three episodes of "From the Top: Olympians and Rockstars" with Hayley Kiyoko which was released on the Olympic Channel in 2021 with Elton John as executive producer.[176][177] When Elton John and Britney Spears released the acoustic version of their song "Hold Me Closer" on November 18, 2022, they also released an official music video starring Chen.[178][179]
Records and achievements
Holder of the highest short program score (113.97), free skate score (224.92) and combined total score (335.30) in Figure skating.
Holder of the highest short program score (113.97), free skate score (218.63) and combined total score (332.60) at the Olympics.[180]
First Asian American man to earn an Olympic medal (gold medal at the 2022 Winter Olympics) in single skating.[16]
First skater to have completed a five-quad program cleanly with level 4 and positive grade of execution (GOE) on all technical elements.[181]
Has broken world records seven times under the current judging system.[182]
Broke the men's record for the combined total with 335.30 points at the 2019 Grand Prix Final.[182]
Broke the men's record for the free skate with 224.92 points at the 2019 Grand Prix Final.[182]
Set the men's record for the combined total with 323.42 points at the 2019 World Championships.[182]
Set the men's record for the free skate with 216.02 points at the 2019 World Championships.[182]
Set the men's record for short program score (113.97) at the 2022 Winter Olympics.
Youngest (18 years old) men's world champion since 2001 at 2018 World Championships.[183]
First skater to land eight quadruple jumps in a competition (2018 World Championships).[184]
First skater to land six quadruple jumps in one program (free skate, 2018 Winter Olympics).[185]
First skater to land five different quadruple jumps (4T, 4S, 4Lo, 4F, and 4Lz) in competition (4Lo landed at 2017 CS U.S. International Figure Skating Classic).[76]
Youngest (17 years old) U.S. men's national champion since 1966 at 2017 U.S. Championships.[186]
Nominated for an ESPY Award in the "Best Olympian, Men's Sports" category in June 2022.[187]
Named to the 2022 Time 100 List (The 100 Most Influential People of 2022) Time.[188]
Nominated for an AAU James E. Sullivan Award in 2022.[189]
Nominated for a People's Choice Award in the category "The Game Changer of 2022".[190]
Honored with the 2022 Committee of 100 'Trailblazer Award for Commitment to Excellence' Committee of 100 (United States).[191]
Honored to appear as an Olympic athlete in the Virtual Parade Across America event at the Inauguration of Joe Biden.[192]
Named to the "2020 Forbes 30 Under 30 Sports List" by the Forbes Magazine.[17]
Named the 2019 Male Olympic Athlete of the Year by U.S. Olympic & Paralympic Committee.[193]
Recipient of 2019, 2021, 2022 Gustave Lussi Award–a prestigious Professional Skaters Association's Edi Awards.[194]
Awarded a proclamation by Salt Lake County making May 16 "Nathan Chen Day."[195]
Named one of Team USA's Top 16 Men Of 2016,[196] Top 17 Men Of 2017,[197] Top 18 Men Of 2018,[198] Top 19 Men Of 2019.[199]
Awarded Team USA's Best Male Athlete of the Month in December 2016, January, October, December 2017, January, November 2018, January, March, October, November, December 2019.[200]
Won SKATING magazine’s 2016–17, 2017–18 and 2018-19 Readers’ Choice Award (Michelle Kwan Trophy).[201]
Selected one of 2018, 2019, 2020 Gold House A100 honorees[202] and 2021 Gold House A100 Hall of Fame [203]
Selected one of the 2017 "Next Generation Leaders" by the Time.[204]
Recipient of 2016, 2015, 2014, 2013, 2012, 2011, 2010, and 2009 Michael Weiss Foundation Scholarship.[205]
Recipient of 2012 Ron and Gayle Hershberger Award.[206]
Recipient of 2011 Athlete Alumni Ambassador Award.[207]
Recipient of 2011, 2010 Cecilia Colledge Memorial Fund award.[208]
Featured on ABC News' Person of the Week aired on February 19, 2010.[209]
Programs
Chen at the 2019 Internationaux de France galaChen at the 2018 Internationaux de France galaChen at the 2018 World ChampionshipsChen at the victory ceremony of the 2019 Internationaux de France
Levels: V = Juvenile; I = Intermediate; N = Novice Q = Qualifying round
Detailed results
Senior level
Chen (center) with Yuzuru Hanyu (left) and Kévin Aymoz (right) at the 2019–20 Grand Prix Final podiumChen (center) with Alexander Samarin (left) and Kévin Aymoz (right) at the 2019 Internationaux de France podiumChen (center) with Jason Brown (left) and Alexander Samarin (right) at the 2018 Internationaux de France podiumChen (center) with Shoma Uno (left) and Mikhail Kolyada (right) at the 2018 World Championships podiumChen (center) with Yuzuru Hanyu (left) and Shoma Uno (right) at the 2017 Four Continents Championships podiumChen (left) with Yuzuru Hanyu (center) and Shoma Uno (right) at the 2016–17 Grand Prix Final podium
Small medals for short and free programs awarded only at ISU Championships. At team events, medals awarded for team results only. Current ISU world bests highlighted in bold and italic.
Chen (center) with Dmitri Aliev (left) and Sota Yamamoto (right) at the 2015–16 Junior Grand Prix Final podium2015 Grand Prix of Figure Skating Final Junior men's singles medal ceremonies.
Small medals for short and free programs awarded only at ISU Championships.
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