Dont watch Figure Skating outside of the Olympics?
Well spoilers. They're gonna pull the same hype they did with Nathan Chen for Ilia Malinin this coming winter Olympics. The American with the amazing jumps who's the favorite for gold.
The silver medalist from last time (Yuma Kagiama) is gonna be the 'Yuzuru Hanyu' they pit him against. Shoma Uno (the bronze medalist from last time) will either retire this year/ next or be in contention for bronze for the third Olympics straight. Ilia is gonna do some high jumps to big music but give nothing else and win by 20 points.
Just felt like rewatching my favorite men's competitive skate of all time; Nathan Chen's Phillip Glass Selections at 2021 Worlds, where he won his third world title.
(Linking this version because it's almost commentary free. They pretty much just name the jumps.)
"Nathan Wei Chen (born May 5, 1999) is an American figure skater and author. He is the 2022 Olympic champion, a three-time World champion (2018, 2019, 2021), the 2017 Four Continents champion, a three-time Grand Prix Final champion (2017, 2018, 2019), a ten-time Grand Prix medalist (8 golds, 1 silver, 1 bronze), a 2022 Olympic silver medalist in the team event, a 2018 Olympic bronze medalist in the team event and a six-time U.S. national champion (2017–22)."
(I know some of these you can nitpick about. “Is that grey, or lavender?” “Actually that has a blue tinge to it.” But whatev because when you look at something long enough color loses all meaning anyway so roll with me.)
For me men figure skating peaked here! Such a goated picture! Legends! 👑
I think what was special about this group was that there were 6 skaters with different styles and approaches. They pushed the boundaries of this sport to the quad aera.
thank u to the redditor who posted this picture of nathan chen looking like a squashed bug on a windshield after faceplanting at usnats 2022 (dw he was fine). anyways happy 24th king
Glad to see that Adam is carrying on the legacy of Keegan and Nathan in the fact that once he has learned the backflip, it is now his go-to party trick