Nathan Chen, the gold medal favourite for next month's Beijing Olympics, got his bid for a sixth consecutive national title off to a solid start on Saturday with a dominant short program at the U.S. Figure Skating Championships in Nashville.
Chen delivered a personal best score of 115.39 in the short program during which he performed a quadruple lutz-triple toe loop combination, to sit atop the field going into Sunday when the competition concludes with the free skate.
"The lutz has been a little tricky for me this season so I am really happy that I was able to put it out," said Chen. "I was a little shaky on the ending but overall I'm happy with the way that I skated."Vincent Zhou was in second place while Ilia Malinin was third in the men's event, which was reduced to 14 skaters when William Hubbert withdrew earlier on Saturday after a positive COVID-19 test.
The three-woman U.S. figure skating team at the Beijing Olympics was announced on Saturday and will be comprised of 25-year-old Mariah Bell, who on Friday became the oldest skater in 95 years to win the national championship, Karen Chen and Alysa Liu. Two-time national champion Liu, who was in third place after Thursday's short program, was forced to withdrew on Friday after testing positive for COVID-19 and missed Friday's free skate.Reporting by Frank Pingue in Toronto Editing by Christian RadnedgeSubscribe for our daily curated newsletter to receive the latest exclusive Reuters coverage delivered to your inbox.
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