BEIJING, China — Nathan Chen took to the ice Tuesday with an eye on avenging his poor performance in the men's short program four years ago in Pyeongchang and gave a performance for the ages.
The U.S. figure skater scored an astounding 113.97 points, shattering the world record for the most points ever scored in a short program. He opened with a perfect quad flip, breezed through a triple axel, and then drilled his quad flip-triple toe loop combination to leave the crowd in awe.
"I was just elated," Chen said. "At the last Olympics, both of the short programs didn't go the way I wanted. To finally get an opportunity to skate the programs I wanted feels really good."
Chen's total was nearly 6 points ahead of Yuma Kagiyama of Japan, who ended the night in second place. He was nearly 20 points ahead of his longtime rival Yuzuru Hanyu of Japan, the two-time Olympic champion who bailed on his opening quad attempt in his short program.
Now all that's left is for Chen to put in a strong free skate Thursday to become Olympic champion.
Chen's teammate Jason Brown, who trains in Colorado Springs, scored a person best of 97.24 points in his short program to finish the night in sixth place.
American Vincent Zhou, who also trains in Colorado Springs, withdrew from the competition due to a positive COVID-19 test.
Watch Nathan Chen's Olympics short program
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