Winter Olympics: US figure skater Nathan Chen’s world record celebrations? Washing his clothes and cleaning his room – ‘I’ve been here a while’
- The 22-year-old American plans simply to do some ‘ordinary chores’ at Olympic Village after his stunning short programme
- Chen ‘elated’ with his score of 113.97 points, as he puts to bed ghosts of ‘disastrous’ display at 2018 Pyeongchang Games
Nathan Chen had just shattered the world record for a figure skating short programme, even throwing a defiant fist in a rare display of emotion, when he was asked how he’d spend the next 48 hours before his long-awaited Olympic coronation.
“I’ve been here a while,” the 22-year-old American star replied with a shrug on Tuesday. “I’ve got some clothes to wash. Some other things to clean around my room. Just ordinary chores, really. Nothing crazy.”
He left the crazy – the downright stunning – on the ice of Beijing’s historic Capital Indoor Stadium.
Wearing a confident smirk, Chen avenged his poor short programme from four years ago at the Pyeongchang Games in the biggest way possible. He opened with a perfect quad flip, breezed through his often-vexing triple axel, then drilled his quad flip-triple toe loop combination before skating to a stop and delivering a right haymaker at the air.
His score was 113.97 points, nearly two more than the previous world record set by rival Yuzuru Hanyu, and six points clear of second-place Yuma Kagiyama headed into Thursday’s free skate.