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American men win two medals at Worlds, Nathan Chen defends his title

By Veronica Elizabeth Bruno

Winner Nathan Chen of the US (R) and bronze medallists Vincent Zhou of the US (L) pose with their national flags during the men's free skating competition of the ISU World Figure Skating Championships in Saitama on March 23, 2019. (Photo by TOSHIFUMI KITAMURA / AFP) (Photo credit should read TOSHIFUMI KITAMURA/AFP/Getty Images)
Winner Nathan Chen of the US (R) and bronze medallists Vincent Zhou of the US (L) pose with their national flags during the men's free skating competition of the ISU World Figure Skating Championships in Saitama on March 23, 2019. (Photo by TOSHIFUMI KITAMURA / AFP) (Photo credit should read TOSHIFUMI KITAMURA/AFP/Getty Images) /
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Americans Nathan Chen and Vincent Zhou skated flawless free skates to win first and third place at the World Figure Skating Championships at Saitama, Japan.

Olympic Team USA put on a sublime performance, with the reigning world champion, Nathan Chen, beating Yuzuru Hanyu’s points-record (set at the Helsinki Grand Prix last year) in the free skate. Chen effortlessly executed a quad lutz, flip, and two toeloops in his elegantly skated, technically superior free skate. Nathan Chen had sat 12 and a half points above two-time Olympic Gold medalist Hanyu going into the free skate, and had a comfortable margin on top of skating a long program that already included just a bit more technical elements than the Japanese skater.

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The pressure was on Yuzuru Hanyu to make up the deficit from the short program, when just a few slight mistakes cost him. Hanyu is a two-time World champion, and even more impressive, the only two-time Gold medalist since Dick Button (1948 and 1952) to achieve the feat consecutively, first in Sochi, then last year at the PyeongChang games.

Arguably considered the greatest male figure skater in history, Hanyu was coming into Worlds after an uneven season, dealing with an ankle injury. While that would debilitate most skaters, Hanyu has a much tougher mindset. He had sat out the season prior to the 2018 Winter Games, only attempting quad jumps just two weeks before the start of the Games, but walking away with the historic second Gold.

This time, however, Hanyu came up short of winning the World title back from Chen, even with his stunning free skate (in an equally stunning costume), leaving the much-decorated Japanese skater disappointed.

“I lost, that is about it,” Hanyu said according to the Associated Press. “I think I did my best, but the problem is that in figure skating competition consists of two days, and I am losing in both. It means that I simply do not have enough strength to win.”

Much more simply attired, Nathan Chen let his skating speak for itself, redeeming himself after a disappointing Olympics last year, becoming the first American man to win back-to-back Worlds since Scott Hamilton did it 1981-1984.

“I’m proud of myself for being able to put out two good programs, the short and the long,” Chen said. “Ultimately, I’m just happy with how this event went and I hope to have more experiences like this.”

It was a great night for American men, with compatriot Vincent Zhou also scoring the bronze medal (his first medal) with a powerful performance to the music of Crouching Tiger, Hidden Dragon, with a season’s best free skate score of 186.99. It was the first time in 23 years that two American men have stood on the podium, the last time being 1996 with Todd Eldridge and Rudy Galindo.

The performance-threshold from the men’s competition was at an incredibly high level, with other memorable skates from Boyang Jin and Mikhail Kolyada, who finished fifth and sixth.

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