Coach Brian Orser met Hanyu as he left the ice after his strong but slightly flawed performance.
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The Japanese star is one of the biggest names at the Pyeongchang Games, but his participation was in question up to the last minute because of right ankle ligament damage suffered in training in November. “And I know I might not be the best in the competition but I’m definitely the most fun”.
Japan took the gold and silver medals in men’s figure skating Saturday as Yuzuru Hanyu successfully defended his 2014 Olympic title and Shoma Uno won silver.
“I mean, as much as I tried to deny it, I did feel the pressure a lot”.
Chen seemingly became the quad king during the 2017 U.S. Figure Skating Championships when he became the first skater in history to land five quads in a single performance.
Chen’s quadruple flip-double toe combination jump during his long program on Saturday.
Two-time US national champion Nathan Chen set a new standard for men’s Olympic figure skating, but in the end it wasn’t good enough for a medal. The two-time world champion completed the job with an enthralling free skate (206.17 points) at Gangneung Ice Arena to finish with 317.85. Hanyu led all skaters coming into the second day of competition.
“I wasn’t going to play it safe, ” said Chen, whose total score of 297.35 was only.42 of a point behind the fourth-place skater, China’s Jin Boyang.
Chen told reporters afterward, “I literally had nothing to lose”. “A lot about redemption, but honestly I just wanted to leave satisfied with what I’ve done”. Adam Rippon, among the most popular USA athletes at these Games, skated yet another clean program and was 10th.
Chan also opened up about some challenges he faced in recent years that had him questioning the idea of going to the Olympics at all.
The sweet-natured, soft-spoken, Winnie-the-Pooh-loving Hanyu is an idol in Japan.
Although Great Britain only has four medals, ranking them No. 16, the Brits witnessed an Olympic first on Sunday when Isabel Atkin won the country’s first-ever medal for skiing. He followed a poor short program in the team competition with a disastrous one in the men’s. He landed two quad toes, a quad Salchow, a quad flip and an opening quad Lutz.
Chen attempted six quad jumps but touched the ice with his hands after one of them; yet it could not detract from an incredible show of resiliency, having floundered so badly the previous day.
“Just happy. I can’t say anymore, just happy”, Hanyu said through his ever-present smile.
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I love this program put together by choreographer Lori Nichol to Mao’s Last Dancer soundtrack. Zhou skated with a passion and emotion that we haven’t seen from him yet, and his heart was on his sleeve when he pounded the ice and pumped his fists in joy at the end of the program.
