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Vincent Zhou stumbles at U.S. International Classic

By Rachel LutzSep 13, 2018, 9:56 PM EDT
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Canada’s Nam Nguyen sits in first place after the short program at the U.S. International Classic competition in Salt Lake City, Utah on Thursday, marking the first true weekend of figure skating competition for the 2018-19 season. Nguyen totaled 80.28 points under the newly-implemented scoring system, which uses a Grade of Execution scale of -5 to +5. The previous scale, such as the one used in PyeongChang, was -3 to +3.

He leads Michal Brezina of the Czech Republic who scored 79.57 points and Ukraine’s Yaroslav Paniot with 74.97 points.

Jimmy Ma leads the American men, sitting fourth with 73.21 points. Vincent Zhou, who finished sixth at the PyeongChang Olympics, is sixth after scoring 61.72 points. Zhou invalidated two jumps in his program – a popped Salchow and a popped Axel – which received zero credit, and under-rotated the quad Lutz in his combination.

“The jumps weren’t really there today but I think the performance was good and I gave it my best efforts as I always do. I’m just starting my season so hopefully tomorrow goes better,” Zhou said, though his program featured three spins which all achieved Level 4s.

Earlier Thursday, Americans Ashley Cain and Timothy LeDuc took the lead in the pairs’ short program with 59.10 points. Cain called her fall on the throw triple Lutz a “weird mistake.”

LeDuc didn’t hold back on the team’s goals for the season.

“We’ve worked really hard this offseason to be ready to do everything that we want to do. We want to be U.S. champions, we want to get the two spots back for Team USA at Worlds,” he said, in reference to the single allotted spot for a Team USA pair at the 2019 World Championships.

Friday’s action from Salt Lake includes 2018 Worlds silver medalist ice dancers Madison Hubbell and Zachary Donohue in the rhythm dance (formerly short dance), plus the ladies’ short program and pairs’ and men’s free skates. All of the action is streaming live on NBC Sports’ Gold Figure Skating Pass (more on that here).

Also this weekend in the figure skating world, competition was underway at the Lombardia Trophy in Italy. After Thursday’s short programs, Olympic silver medalist Shoma Uno from Japan leads the men’s field with 104.15 points and 2015 world champion Elizaveta Tuktamysheva of Russia leads the ladies with 65.69 points. Russians Natalia Zabiiako and Alexander Enbert are currently first in the pairs’ field with 72.50 points. Competition in Bergamo continues Friday and Saturday.

Nathan Chen wins world title by nearly 50 points after everyone falls

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By Nick ZaccardiMar 24, 2018, 1:49 PM EDT
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Nathan Chen has the gold. It just came one month later than he had hoped (and against a much less impressive field).

The 18-year-old won the world championships on Saturday, becoming the first U.S. male singles skater to do so since Evan Lysacek in 2009 and the youngest man from any nation since Yevgeny Plushenko in 2001.

It came one month after Chen entered the Olympics as one of the favorites and finished fifth.

“I felt the pressure, but I used what I learned from the Olympics and tried to bring it here,” Chen said, adding that he wouldn’t trade this title for an Olympic gold.

Chen landed six quadruple jumps in his free skate (five clean), extending a 1.86-point lead from the short program to win by 47.63 points. Chen tallied personal-best free skate and total scores (219.46, 321.40), becoming the second man to break 320 total points after double Olympic champion Yuzuru Hanyu.

It’s the largest margin of victory in any event at an Olympics, worlds or Grand Prix Final under the 14-year-old points system.

Every other medal contender fell multiple times in the free skate. Chen, going last, said he was aware of that. Yet he still went all-out with six quads rather than the five he planned before going to Milan.

“That [the skaters’ falls] actually helped solidify my approach for six quads because it gave me an opportunity to make a mistake,” Chen said.

Olympic silver medalist Shoma Uno from Japan took silver despite three falls Saturday, reportedly skating through an ankle injury. Russian Mikhail Kolyada held on for bronze with two falls.

“I was not able to show my best,” Uno said, “but I did not give up until the end.”

American Vincent Zhou, third in the short program, also had three falls and ended up 14th. Jin Boyang, fourth in the short, fell five times and was 19th.

“I can’t even begin to describe how angry I am at myself for letting such an important FS [free skate] get away from me,” was tweeted from Zhou’s account, adding that he injured his back before leaving for Milan. “I’ve trained clean longs with 5 & 6 quads and I am so capable of being among the best.”

Later Saturday, French Gabriella Papadakis and Guillaume Cizeron rewrote the record books with the biggest ice dance blowout at an Olympics or worlds since the 6.0 was thrown out. A full recap is here.

WORLDS: Full Scores | Recaps | TV Schedule

Chen ended a season with six wins in seven events. That loss was costly, a fifth-place finish at the Olympics with that disastrous 17th-place short program.

But Chen rebounded not only in the Olympic free skate (highest score by nearly nine points) but also in Milan this week. Chen said he learned from PyeongChang to stop being “hell-bent” focused on gold.

His chances were no doubt boosted this week by the absences of Olympic gold and bronze medalists Hanyu and Javier Fernandez. Many medalists skip the worlds that are held one month after the Olympics due to exhaustion, off-ice opportunities or retirement.

This field lacked any prior Olympic or world champions for the first time since 1985.

Chen said before worlds he plans to continue competing next season, even though he may enroll in college. He will still work under Southern California-based coach Rafael Arutyunyan.

The third American, Max Aaron, finished 11th, landing one quad in his free skate, putting his hand down on a quad Salchow. Aaron, the 2013 U.S. champion, reportedly said it may have been his final competition.

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MORE: Best figure skating moments from PyeongChang

Nathan Chen hits short program, leads world championships

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By Nick ZaccardiMar 22, 2018, 5:06 PM EDT
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Sports execs oppose esports in Olympics, survey shows Annemiek van Vleuten, back from horrific Rio Olympic crash, leads Dutch sweep at cycling worlds Meghan Duggan, U.S. hockey captain, marries longtime Canadian rival

That’s more like it, Nathan Chen.

After two disastrous Olympic short programs, Chen nailed his jumps at the world championships, taking the lead by 1.86 points over Russian Mikhail Kolyada in Milan on Thursday. American Vincent Zhou is third.

Full results are here.

“I learned a lot from the Olympics, and I used what I learned there heading into the short program in terms of where to place my mind, what to think about throughout the program,” Chen said. “It was great to have an opportunity to come back before the end of the season to try the short program again, sort of hope to redeem myself.”

Later Thursday, Germans Aljona Savchenko and Bruno Massot backed up their Olympic gold with a world title, shattering the longest-standing world record in figure skating with a record margin of victory. Full recap here.

In Saturday’s men’s free skate, Chen can become the youngest men’s world champion since Yevgeny Plushenko in 2001. Zhou can become the first man to make a senior world podium the year after winning a world junior title since Plushenko in 1998. The U.S. last put two men on a world podium in 1996 (Todd Eldredge, Rudy Galindo).

This week’s field lacks Yuzuru Hanyu, Javier Fernandez and Patrick Chan, who combined to win every Olympic and world title since 2011 but ended their seasons at the Olympics.

On Thursday, Chen hit a quadruple Lutz-triple toe loop combination, a quadruple flip and a triple Axel for 101.94 points (2.18 shy of his personal best). It was a reversal from PyeongChang, where Chen’s short programs began unraveling with that opening combination, and he scored 80.61 and 82.27 points.

Chen placed 17th in the Olympic short program and redeemed himself with the top free skate, moving up to fifth. He went into the Olympics as the only undefeated male skater for the season.

“That I was able to bounce back and have the long program that I did, because of that the whole Olympic experience wasn’t as bad as I thought it would be after the short program,” Chen said Thursday. “Being able to have that, I didn’t have any ghosts of the Olympics following me [to worlds].”

Zhou, the youngest of 37 men in the field at 17, landed a quad Lutz-triple toe loop combination and a quad flip, fist pumping at the end of his skate. He shattered his personal-best short program by 12.25 points. Zhou was sixth at the Olympics.

“I came here to skate a clean program, I did that, and being in the top three is icing on the cake,” Zhou said.

Two other medal favorites — Olympic silver medalist Shoma Uno of Japan and two-time world bronze medalist Jin Boyang of China — struggled with jumps. Jin is fourth and Uno fifth.

Uno, competing with a reported ankle injury, performed a triple-double combination rather than the quad-triple he did in PyeongChang. Jin had a quad toe called under-rotated.

The third American, 2013 U.S. champion Max Aaron, is in 15th place. Aaron put his hand down on his opening quad Salchow and turned out of his triple Axel landing.

Key Free Skate Start Times (Saturday ET)
Max Aaron (USA) — 6:05 a.m.
Shoma Uno (JPN) — 8:21 a.m.
Jin Boyang (CHN) — 8:29 a.m.
Mikhail Kolyada (RUS) — 8:38 a.m.
Vincent Zhou (USA) — 8:47 a.m.
Nathan Chen (USA) — 8:55 a.m.

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