Nathan Chen is an American figure skater who made his senior debut in international competition in 2016.[1] Chen, the reigning Olympic champion (2022) and a three-time world champion (2018, 2019, 2021), was the first skater to land five different types of quadruple jumps in competition, the first skater to land six quadruple jumps in a free program, and the first skater to land eight quadruple jumps across a single competition. Chen has broken multiple world and national records and is the current world record holder for two competition segments in the senior men's discipline; the short program and combined total score, and former world record holder in the free skate.
When Chen captured his first U.S. title at the 2017 U.S Championships at age 17, he became the youngest national champion since Dick Button (1946). That same year, he won the Four Continents title and the first of three successive grand prix final titles. Chen won his first world title in 2018 and became the youngest world champion since Evgeni Plushenko (2001). He repeated as world champion in 2019, and in 2021, he was the first U.S. man to win three world titles in a row since Scott Hamilton (1982–1984).[note 1] In early January 2022, Chen became the first man to win six consecutive U.S. championships since Button (1946–52), and a month later, at the 2022 Winter Olympics in Beijing, he was the first Asian American man to win Olympic gold.
Chen has received numerous accolades in recognition of his achievements and impact. In the ensuing months after he stood atop the podium in Beijing, Chen earned nominations for several notable awards, including a Laureus World Sports Award, a People's Choice Award, an ESPY, and a James E. Sullivan Award. He was named Most Valuable Skater at the International Skating Union's ISU Awards in 2023, and Time magazine included him in its annual list of the 100 most influential people in the world in 2022.
World record scores
Chen set seven world record scores in the +5/-5 grade of execution (GOE) system; one in the short program, three in the free program, and three in the combined total score.[note 2]
SP – Short program
FS – Free skating
Chronological list of world record scores in the +5/-5 GOE system[4]
First skater to land five different quadruple jumps (quadruple toe loop, quadruple Salchow, quadruple loop, quadruple flip, and quadruple Lutz) in competition
Each technical element of a program is assigned a base value, which gives skaters credit for every element they perform. Some elements, such as spins, and step sequences, have levels of difficulty (level 1 is the lowest, level 4 is the highest) on which the base values are established. A judging panel grades the quality of each element using the grade of execution score (GOE) within a range of −5 to +5 (the historical system prior to the 2018–19 season had a range between +3/-3), which is added to or deducted from the base value. GOEs are proportional to the base value of each element. The highest and lowest scores for each element are thrown out, and the remaining scores are averaged to determine the final GOE for each element. The GOE is then added to or subtracted from the base value for each element, and the sum of the scores for all elements forms the technical score.[68] In the current +5/-5 system, Chen has received 4 perfect scores for two technical elements in international competition, his choreographic sequence and level four step sequence.
SP – Short program
FS – Free skate
Unanimous +5 GOE marks from the judging panel highlighted in bold
Technical elements with maximum score in the +5/-5 GOE system[64]
Chen is the historical national record holder for the senior men's short program, the senior men's free skate, and accumulative score. He also holds the current national record scores for all three segments for the senior men's discipline at the U.S. Figure Skating Championships.
SP – Short program
FS – Free skating
World record scores are highlighted in bold and italic
Chen has received a total of seven perfect scores for technical elements at the U.S. Championships. In the current +5/-5 GOE system, Chen was awarded maximum scores for a step sequence, a choreographic sequence, a jump and a jump combination. In the old +3/-3 GOE system, he received perfect scores for two step sequences. Furthermore, Chen was awarded perfect 10.00s in the performance component for his free skate at the 2019 U.S. Championships.
x – 10% bonus in the base value for a jump executed in the second half of the program
Unanimous +5GOE marks from the judging panel highlighted in bold
Technical elements with maximum score at the U.S. Championships in the +5/-5 GOE system[64]
Chen (center left) with Gabriella Papadakis/Guillaume Cizeron (left), Rika Kihira (center right) and Vanessa James/Morgan Cipres (right) at 2018 Internationaux de France Exhibition
Chen has achieved combined total scores above 300 points seven times since the implementation of the +5/-5 system in the 2018–19 season, twice in the +3/-3 system season prior to that season.
Total scores above 300 points in the +5/-5 system[66]
^Figure skating was formerly judged in a system with a 6.0 scale. The International Skating Union adopted a new judging system in 2003 based on a code of points, using grades of execution (GOE) within a range of −3 to +3. The range changed to −5 to +5 from the 2018–19 season.[3]
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