Nathan Chen Leaps His Way to a World Record

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IMAGE / wikimedia

Nathan Chen at the 2018 Winter Olympics

As the world kicked off the 2022 winter Olympics in Beijing, China this month, all eyes are on figure skating.

With figure skating being the most watched sport so far in this year’s games, fan favorites like Karen Chen and Nathan Chen are leaving it all on the ice.

The men’s short program on Feb. 8 left many shocked.

Reigning gold medalist and record holder Yuzuru Hanyu of China had a misstep that cost him first place when he bailed out of his iconic jump, the quadruple salchow.

Nathan Chen of The United States broke the record previously set by Hanyu for highest score of the program, finishing with a 113.97, opening up with a perfect quad flip, then breezing through his often-vexing triple axel, and finally busting out his quad lutz-triple toe loop combination.

Chen scored almost two full points more than Hanyu’s previous record of 111.92.

The gold medal went to Chen, which is a huge comeback from the 2018 games in PyeongChang, South Korea.

At the previous Olympics, Chen had a the highest score in the free skate, but the lowest score in the short program.

Fellow American Karen Chen, fell in her first olympic run since 2018, where she placed 11th in the women’s singles competition.

Chen (Karen), managed to lift the USA team to silver after placing bronze in the previous two Olympics.

Overall the US figure skating team has managed to break records, land insane skills, and shock the world with a silver medal.