This is the moment that Nathan Chen has been waiting for.
At the 2018 Pyeongchang Games, he was the gold medal favorite on the cusp of becoming the next great American Olympian. But after a disastrous short program, he fell to 17th in the standings, with barely any hope of winning a medal. In a comeback that stunned everyone except him, Chen rebounded for the free skate to perform a knockout program, landing a monstrous six quadruple jumps when he had planned five.
“I knew at that point that I had literally nothing to lose, so I decided just to try it,” he said afterward.