Nathan Chen reigns as ‘Quad King,’ but Yuzuru Hanyu takes skating’s crown

GANGNEUNG, South Korea — After the worst collapse of his brilliant figure skating career, Nathan Chen retreated to his room in the Athletes’ Village on Friday and, for once, didn’t dissect his shortcomings in clinical detail. Nor did he torture himself for falling so terribly short in an error-strewn short program that cost him any chance at an Olympic medal.

Chen put his head on a pillow and fell asleep.

The figure skater who awoke was unburdened by expectation. He felt no pressure. And he returned to Gangneung Ice Arena to complete the statement he had hoped to make in his Olympic debut at the PyeongChang Games. Chen made history in the process, becoming the first figure skater to land six clean quadruple jumps in competition.

And perhaps a special medal is warranted for his fight in vaulting from 17th to fifth in the final standings on a performance of incomparable courage.

“I knew at that point I had literally nothing to lose, so I decided just to try it,” said Chen, 18, whose score, a whopping 215.08, elevated him to first only temporarily. The day belonged to Japan’s Yuzuru Hanyu.

Source :  washingtonpost

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