With seamless footwork and high-flying quadruple jumps, Nathan Chen, the gold medal favorite in figure skating’s men’s singles event, easily finished first on Friday in the men’s short program of the team event, giving the U.S. team an edge to win an early medal at the Beijing Games.
More than that, though, Chen took a huge step in redeeming himself after a disappointing showing at the 2018 Games, where falls and mistakes in the short programs of both the team and the singles events fell cavernously short of his expectations. After a spectacular performance in the long program in Pyeongchang, he finished fifth in singles.