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Skaters from ’64 cheer on Nathan Chen ’24 at Winter Olympics

February 10, 2022

Here are three stories which culminate in Nathan Chen’s Olympic gold medal in figure skating. Chen matriculated at Yale in 2018 but took a leave of absence to prepare for the Olympics. He will graduate in 2024.


The Olympic Games approach

January 28, 2022

As the Winter Olympics approach (February 2), the Yale figure skater Nathen Chen ’24 is in the news. The Yale News wrote on October 28: Nathan Chen ’24 has skated in arenas around the world — from Stockholm’s Globen, the largest hemispherical building on Earth, to Osaka’s Municipal Gymnasium, which is built entirely underground. But something special happened the first time he stepped onto the ice of Yale’s Ingalls Rink some three years ago. “The arena,” Chen recalls, “brought together a perfect meld of form (the elongated swoop of its exoskeleton, the source of its ‘Yale Whale’ nickname) and function (the exceptional quality of the ice). And there was the thrill of seeing the blue ‘Y’ embedded at center ice. I was just blown away.”

Tony Lee commented: “Nathan has a chance, and I will follow him during the Olympics, but I wonder if the hockey team can use him.” Another ice junky, Waldo Johnston, wrote: “What a wonderful story about Nathan Chen, an amazingly gifted and thoughtful athlete.” Sam Callaway emailed: “I'll be rooting for him in Beijing, for sure. I also hear he has a bullet shot from the point. Is Keith keeping an eye on him?”

Class of 1964 (front row): Ward Wickwire (19), Boardman Lloyd (9),
Waldo Johnston (16), Strachan Donnelley (2), Capt. Toby Hubbard (14),
Bruce Warner (4), Sam Crocker (18), Sam Callaway (7)


Chen ’24 shatters world record in men’s short program, prepares for free skate

Nathan Chen ’24, who won a silver medal in the team event, broke his own Olympic record score and the world record for the men’s single short program event ahead of the free skate on Wednesday.

February 8, 2022

Gold-medal favorite Nathan Chen ’24 shattered the world record short-program score Tuesday by earning 113.97 points, putting him at the top of the field ahead of Wednesday’s free skate. 

Chen, a statistics and data science major at Yale, is representing Team USA in figure skating at the 2022 Beijing Winter Olympics. During Friday’s team event of the men’s short program, Chen’s Olympic record-setting first-place finish of 111.71 assisted Team USA’s silver medal finish. Skating to “La Boheme” in the men’s single short program on Tuesday, Chen broke the world record by 2.16 points, setting a strong foundation for the second half of the men’s single’s competition — the free-skate event. 

“I was just elated,” Chen said in an interview with the Associated Press earlier this week. “At the last Olympics, both of the short programs didn’t go the way I wanted. To finally get an opportunity to skate the programs I wanted feels really good.”

Skating in the heat ahead of Chen, two-time defending Olympic champion Yuzuru Hanyu failed to podium after a poorly executed quadruple jump. Chen is trailed by two Japanese skaters: second-place Yuma Kagiyama — with a score of 108.12 — and third-place Shoma Uno — with a score of 105.90. Chen’s teammate Vincent Zhou was slated to skate during the event but withdrew from competition due to a positive COVID-19 test. 

Chen skated to the same music as his 2022 U.S. Championships performance and Friday’s short-program event. After beginning with a quad flip, the Salt Lake City native executed the program with zero deductions and masterful transitions. The performance, which included a quad lutz-triple toe loop combination, earned a total element score of 65.98 and a total presentation score of 47.99. After the program, Chen launched a triumphant fist pump as the crowd erupted. 

“There’s a lot of preparation that goes into it and a lot of things that you learn from year to year,” Chen said. “So I definitely picked up a lot of experience over the past couple of years, and certainly you learn the most from your mistakes.”

Heavily favored to win gold, Chen came into the competition after winning the U.S. Championships in January for the sixth time. At the 2018 Pyeongchang Winter Olympics, Chen was a fan favorite and debuted in his first Olympics at the age of 18. Chen faltered in his first individual performance as he placed seventeenth, but rebounded to place first in the free skate and fifth overall in the individual competition. While he earned a team bronze four years ago, Chen is looking to secure his first individual medal in the upcoming free-skate program.

Four years later, Chen now holds the world record for the highest recorded men’s single short program in addition to the highest recorded free-skate score with a score of 224.92 at the 2019-20 Grand Prix Final. Chen also recorded the highest men’s combined total with a score of 335.30 points at the 2019-20 Grand Prix Final.

The men’s single free skate will occur on Wednesday, 8:30pm EST or Thursday, 9:30am in Beijing at the Capital Indoor Stadium.


All is golden for Nathan Chen ’24

It was a Nathan Chen ’24 masterclass as he earned the highest short-program score in Olympic history, won silver with Team USA and finished with a flourish to win gold.

February 10, 2022

Nathan Chen ’24 is golden. 

Taking to the ice last in the men’s singles figure skating competition Thursday at the 2022 Beijing Winter Olympic Games, the statistics and data-science major proved himself to be the Quad King, three-time world champion, and now — Olympic gold medal winner. 

Chen capped off his record-breaking Olympic run with a gold medal in men’s singles skating, adding to a silver medal won in the team event. He first took to the ice in Beijing by lifting his team to the top of the men’s singles short program while setting a personal best of 111.71. Not satisfied with that result, Chen proceeded to break the world record in the men’s singles short program, recording yet another personal best at 113.97. On Thursday, Chen capped off his Olympic run by earning 218.63 points in the free skate, launching himself to a combined score of 332.60 and first-place finish. 

“I mean it’s a whirlwind right now — everything is happening so fast,” Chen said to NBC after his gold-medal-winning performance. “That program is really fun to skate. At the end I really just had a blast out there and I am really grateful. When I finished the last jump, I thought I was pretty close [to the win].”

Skating to a medley from the Elton John biopic “Rocketman” and wearing his nebulous Vera Wang costume, Chen opened his performance with his noted quad jumps. He strung together a quad lutz followed by a quad toe loop-euler-single flip followed by a triple axel and triple lutz, triple toe-loop combination. Chen established his proficiency at jumps before launching into an artistic dance break, a smile painted wide across his face as the crowd cheered. He ended the performance at the center of the rink as delegations across the stadium leaped out of their seats in a standing ovation. 

With Thursday’s majestic performance, Chen has finally secured the gold medal that has eluded him since the 2018 Pyeongchang Winter Olympics. At the age of 18, Chen entered the Games as a medal favorite but came up short, leaving Korea with only a team bronze and fifth place individual ranking. Multiple errors in the short program knocked him down to 17th, but he rebounded in the free skate with a history-making attempt at six quads, five of which were successful. 

After falling short at Pyeongchang, Chen maintained world-class showings through titles and new records. Just one month after his fifth-place finish, he won the first of his three World Figure Skating Championships. He went on to claim his second of three Grand Prix Final titles in December 2018 and afterward maintained his fine form as the U.S. National Champion. 

Chen’s biggest challenge entering the Beijing Games was his peers from Japan. Yuzuru Hanyu, 27, is a two-time Olympic champion and prefaced the competition declaring his intent to land a quadruple axel — a feat that has never been successfully landed in competition. Hanyu attempted the jump twice in the free skate, but was unable to stick the landing either time and ultimately settled for fourth. Yuma Kagiyama of Japan earned silver with a combined score of 310.05 while fellow countryman Shoma Uno secured bronze with a combined score of 293.

“You can’t imagine how it feels,” Chen said of his Olympic-winning moment in a post-skate press conference. “This means the world to me. I have the family connection [to Beijing]. It’s amazing to have this opportunity to do it here.” 

Nathan Chen is a student in Jonathan Edwards College.