Beijing, China, February 10, 2022: The United States’ “Rocket Man” Nathan Chen soared into outer space at the Beijing Winter Olympics on Thursday as he held off a three-pronged Japanese challenge to win gold in men’s figure skating.
Chen, the 22-year-old three-time world champion, succeeded Japan’s Yuzuru Hanyu as Olympic champion on a day when Yuma Kagiyama took silver and Shoma Uno won bronze at the Capital Indoor Stadium.
Hanyu came in fourth, unable to recover in his free skate from a disappointing short programme two days earlier.
Chen, skating to Elton John’s “Rocket Man”, was simply electric – and unstoppable. He followed up his world record 113.97 points in the short programme with 218.63 in the free skate to total 332.60.
Kagiyama, the 18-year-old Winter Youth Olympic Games champion at Lausanne 2020, finished second with 310.05 (108.12/201.93) and Uno, PyeongChang 2018 silver medallist, took home the bronze with 293.00 (105.90/187.10).
Hanyu, the two-time defending Olympic champion, was fourth with 283.21 (95.15/188.06).
There were also memorable performances from two other Asian skaters: Korea’s Cha Jun-hwan was fifth on 282.38 points (99.51/182.87) and China’s Jin Boyang was ninth with 270.43 (90.98/179.45).
Kagiyama, who is coached by his father, two-time Olympian Masakazu Kagiyama, said the silver medal was the result of many years of hard work.
“Without the support of so many people I would not be standing here,” he said. “This is my first Olympic Games and everything is unknown for me. I am just so honoured to have been chosen to represent Japan. Thanks to all this support I could just focus on my performance.”
Referring to his Winter YOG gold in Lausanne two years ago, Kagiyama added: “My journey since then has been very fulfilling. Two years ago, I would never have thought I would be at the Olympic Games and with a silver medal. I feel I have grown a lot in those two years and it’s been a great experience.”
The new Olympic champion Chen, whose mother is from Beijing and whose parents met in Beijing, was asked about his emotions on winning gold. “Too many to process,” he said. “It means the world. I'm just so happy. It's a whirlwind right now. I had a blast out there."
Hanyu, who fell on his attempt to perform the quadruple Axel - requiring four and a half rotations in the air from a forward jump - for the first time in competition, said: “I think I am pushing the boundary today. No matter how hard, no matter how unimaginable, I want to push a little bit more for those who have expectations in me."
When asked about his attempt at the quadruple axel jump, he replied: “I do the 4A much better now. I failed to realise my dream of completing it in this Olympics but I have worked really hard for it.
“It was a hard time for me on the ice. If I’m not doing 4A, I could have done a better combo. But that was my pride. It’s going to make me more complete. That’s why I did it. Pressure gets me more energy for skating.”
Photo: OCA
