Gangneung, South Korea • In the basement of the building where he’ll look to fulfill his destiny, Nathan Chen made it look easy.
There were the occasional hiccups, some tumbles to the ice on one of his many quad jump attempts that left him shaking his head. But each time he fell to the ice at the practice rink inside the Gangneung Ice Arena, the 18-year-old gold-medal contender rose and went through the corrective motions.
In the same spot on the ice where two quad attempts went awry, he returned only to land the cleanest attempt of the day.