Nathan Chen: The Rocket Man
How does one defeat the demon that has accompanied them for four years? That's the question skater Nathan Chen had to face. The American is only 22 years old, but already a three-time world champion.
He can do jumps that only his long-term Japanese rival Yuzuru Hanyu can do. But Chen has failed in the Olympic singles once before, in 2018, when he messed up the short program. It's only 170 seconds long, it's Nathan Chen's demon.
The short program is the first of two parts of the individual run. Part two is the freestyle. Delivering solidly in the short program in order to have every chance in the freestyle, that's the plan. "Your thoughts before the short program are: Everything has to be on point ",Nathan Chen told The Wall Street Journal ahead of the games.
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Once slipped, once landed not quite cleanly, and all dreams are already gone. Like four years ago in Pyeongchang, when Chen fell on his first jump and then the landing wobbled. A medal was lost before it really got started. But Chen not only runs against himself, but also against Yuzuru Hanyu. Since Chen turned pro, the two have been competitors. It is a fascinating duel of outbidding each other. In the short program on Tuesday, Hanyu comes first. He's 27, has won two world championships and two Olympic gold medals, which puts him ahead of Chen.
Hanyu even has it twice. The Japanese is a lad, mischievous and casual outside, cool and elegant on the ice. While Chen looks like he was cut out of a high school series, there's something mysterious about Hanyu. That is what makes it so fascinating. While he runs inside, the fans stand outside in front of the hall. Groupies in the no-gathering city of Beijing.
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Hanyu wants to be the first person to do a quadruple axel in a competition: walk in backwards on the right foot, switch to the left before taking off, four and a half turns, land forward on the right. In figure skating, gymnasts compete against each other, spinning faster and faster. Even quintuple jumps no longer seem impossible. Hanyu is said to be obsessed with the Quadruple Axel. Maybe that costs him the concentration on the bigger picture. His short program is okay, but not very good. He gets a score of 95.15 points from the judges. Quite a disappointment for him.
Chen saw Hanyu's performance backstage, a good half hour later he steps onto the ice. Now not only the moment weighs on him, but the whole drill, the work, from many years of training. Chen wears a white T-shirt over a black jacket with a white handkerchief. Like going to poker. He gets going and is immediately into it. No wobbling, certainly no fall. As the music fades out, he roars with delight. He doesn't clench his fist, he throws it forward. What is this good for? world record! 113.97 points. Even if many in figure skating don't give a damn about world records - the judges evaluate them too differently: This number of points is an announcement. But the day of the free program is yet to come, at the end of which he will be sitting on a gray couch, gasping for air and staring blankly ahead.
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On Thursday morning you can see more journalists in the Capital Indoor Stadium than anywhere else at these games. They all want to see the freestyle. Figure skating is an incredibly expressive sport and, because of the drill, also somewhat archaic. But that only makes it more enjoyable to watch. Hanyu, Chen's cool opponent, has to play eighth from last, because the unclean short program got him there. He is wearing a light blue shirt with gold palettes and has black gloves on his hands. Like the ice prince on skids. Today he wants to try it, the fourfold Axel. He has nothing left to lose. But he can't finish the turn. "I turned the Axel as fast as I could," he says later. "I tried." In the end, the double Olympic champion finished fourth.
Chen's biggest opponents are now two other Japanese: Shoma Uno, 24, and Yuma Kagiyama, 18. Uno and Kagiyama are a good eight and six points behind, respectively; that can be caught up – if Chen weakens. The Japanese manage an excellent freestyle. To Hans Zimmer 's Gladiator film music, the young Kagiyama manages the best run of the day so far, scoring 201.93 points. Chen cannot afford to make many mistakes.
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The American takes to the ice in a red top with sparkling stars. Chen has put on space. His music: Rocket Man by Elton John. The music starts. And again: no wobbling, all jumps are perfect. Five quintuple and five treble. Nobody else has done anything like this. A weakness with the triple jump combination alone, Chen leans too far forward, he has to miss one of the three jumps. But even that doesn't matter, the rest is too good.
When Elton John starts again: I'm not the man they think I am at home. Oh, no, no, no, I'm a rocket man, Chen has survived the worst. He'll win, three Japanese behind him, and sitting on the gray couch he'll briefly look like he can't believe it all. "I never really felt I could make it that far," he said at the press conference. Gone is he, the demon.
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