With a cathartic performance, U.S. figure skater Nathan Chen exorcises 4-year-old demons

BEIJING - There was a moment in the middle of Nathan Chen’s short program, early Tuesday afternoon, where the nerves went away and the American skating star was certain he was doing something brilliant on the Capital Indoor Stadium ice.

Looking back, he is sure it was following the quadruple Lutz and triple toeloop that he landed perfectly. They were the last jumps he had to hit, the last significant risks of falling and ruining another Olympics like the one four years ago in PyeongChang - the last potential disasters that weren’t going to happen this time.

“I can sort of let loose technically and enjoy the music and enjoy the skate,” he said.

And when Chen’s program was over, he didn’t need to wait for his first place, world record score of 113.97. He knew he had won the day. His rival, the two-time gold medalist Yuzuru Hanyu of Japan, had stumbled himself, headed to eighth place entering Thursday’s free skate. Chen’s path to the gold had been cleared. He closed his eyes, clenched his teeth and pumped his fist. All that was missing was the emphatic scream of “yes!” that must have been exploding inside.

For a 22-year-old man who prides himself on his stoicism, it was the most emotion he had shown at an event in a long, long time.

“A little out-of-character there,” he joked afterward. “But I was happy.”

And relieved. Even if he didn’t actually say it Tuesday, Chen looked very much relieved. This day four years ago, the one in which he failed to complete every jump and finished 17th in the Olympic short program, has haunted him for four years, an asterisk next to the domination of winning all but one event in the years since. His legacy of greatness could never be sealed without ridding himself of the PyeongChang disaster.

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Still, it came without the expected drama of a showdown with Hanyu. That ended fast when Hanyu didn’t even attempt a quadruple Salchow, leaving everyone in the arena stunned.

Hanyu dropped his head after his skate was done and slowly skated from the ice toward the mandatory interview area beneath the arena’s stands. A crowd of about 50 Japanese journalists waited for the star, speaking in hushed voices, and four Japan team media officials hovered nervously around them.

As Hanyu slowly made his way toward them, he stopped for a handful of English questions. He said he felt good when he went out for his program, that he wasn’t nervous and that he was ready to make the jump but he saw a hole in the ice and pulled out of the leap at the last minute. He said he had warmed up on a different part of the ice and didn’t notice the divot until it was too late.

While Hanyu talked, already far behind with a score of 95.15, Chen was warming up with the day’s last group of skaters. If Hanyu had turned around, he would have seen his rival coolly gliding in the trim black suit he wears over a white T-shirt for his short program.

Chen, however, was not relaxed. In an interview area just steps from where Hanyu had spoken, he admitted he was nervous in the warm-up with so much pressure of four years of constant winning mixed with a need for Olympic redemption.

“I think we try to maintain that facade as much as we can even if I don’t feel great,” he said of his anxiousness.

Recently, he said he was “scared” before the PyeongChang Olympics. He was just 18 and didn’t have a plan for how to handle everything that comes with the Games; the attention, the expectations, the pressure. He said he had approached his selection the United States team back then with a sense of “dread.” This time, he promised, he would skate with joy.

Then he did. He hit a quadruple flip and a triple axel. He scored big on the quadruple Lutz and triple toeloop. He sailed through everything else, his arms jerking back and forth to the music of “La Boheme.” He knew he was safe. He knew 2018 was wiping away with every push of his skate. He knew he would go into the final day with a lead.

Ultimately, he would be almost six points ahead of Japan’s Yuma Kagiyama and nearly nine in front of another Japanese skater, Shoma Uno. Jason Brown, his American teammate, was in sixth after a strong artistic skate. The other top American, Vincent Zhou, was not there after testing positive for coronavirus.

For a day, Chen could be relieved. He could feel hopeful for the gold that never came his way in 2018 when he finally finished fifth at the end of the men’s competition. He was going back to his room to rest and eat, he said.

And wash his clothes.

He had been at the Olympics for several days, now, he said. It was time to do laundry.

What better way to celebrate the biggest day yet in his figure skating career than by washing away the past?