18-year-old skating phenom Nathan Chen hasn't had an easy road, but he's likely mere days from getting a huge payoff for his hard work. At the short program on Thursday night at the U.S. Figure Skating Championships, Chen tallied 104.5 points -- the second highest short program total in nationals history.
The highest? Chen's 2017 score. He is now likely going to be named to the Olympic team in short order. On the day, Chen said that in spite of his struggles earlier in the week he was confident. "My mind was not in the right place [Wednesday]," Chen told the media. "Having a day to recover and recalculate definitely helped a lot."
On his nerves, Chen said that it didn't bother him while performing. "Usually once the music starts, the nerves kind of switch to confidence," he said. "...And all of my training just kind of kicked in."
Salt Lake City’s Nathan Chen wins the men’s short program at the 2018 U.S. Figure Skating Championships in San Jose. Chen, 18, is the reigning U.S. champion. Men’s free skate is Saturday. pic.twitter.com/CqVYOjo6qN
— Salt Lake Tribune Sports (@sltribsports) January 5, 2018
Chen struggled in practices leading up to the program, but you never would have known it during his performance on Thursday. The immensely talented skater showed why he's a natural on the ice, and he's going to be rewarded handsomely for it.
