Nathan Chen set up his World Championship title defense well, sitting in first place after the short program on Thursday in Saitama, Japan.
“That was fun,” his coach Rafael Arutunian told Chen in a hug as he walked off the ice.
Chen opened with a triple Axel, hung onto the landing of his quadruple Lutz, and ended with a quad toe, triple toe combination. He scored a season’s best 107.40 points to lead the field by a whopping 10.59 points.
Chen is looking to become the first U.S. man to win back-to-back World titles since Scott Hamilton did so four times, from 1981-1984.