Olympic Figure Skating Favorite Nathan Chen Is in 17th Place
Nathan Chen
Leading up to the Olympic figure skating menâs event   Nathan Chen  was a gold medal favorite.  Chen âs teammate Adam Rippon  who does not perform some of the more difficult jumps that  Chen  does  wasnât considered a true threat for a medal in the olympic skating menâs event  but managed to endear  himself  to the world with  his  exuberant â and clean â skate.
Now Rippon sits ahead of  Chen  after the Olympic figure skating menâs short program. Ripponâs error-free skate  albeit minus the quad jumps  landed  him  in seventh place while teammate Vincent Zhou is in 12th.  Chen   who made mistakes on all of  his  jumps  is currently 17th. That means  he  will skate in the second group of six skaters in the free program tomorrow  since the skating order is reversed from the rankings after the short program.
 Chen   who is competing in  his  first Olympics  is having a tough time so far. First there was his error-filled short program in the team skating event earlier this week  in which he botched all of his jumps. Then he did the same in the menâs short program.
 Chen âs arsenal of quadruple jumps sets  him  apart from most of the competition; quadruple jumps are worth far more in points than triples are  and itâs easy for  Chen  to add up points and pull away from the field â if  he  lands them cleanly.
The disastrous short program prompted tweets of encouragement for  Chen   including from Olympian Scott Hamilton. âI respect you. I admire you. I believe in you. Today was a difficult day. Tomorrow is up to you!â
But even if  Chen  skates a dazzling long program peppered with multiple quad jumps  itâs numerically impossible for  him  to climb from 17th place into medal contention â unless most of  his  higher-ranking competitors all come down with the norovirus. âIâve never been in this position before so I donât really know exactly what to do â  he  says.
Even before the menâs short began  Olympian and silver medalist Paul Wylie questioned the fluidity and uncertainty of so much of todayâs Olympic athletesâ schedules.  Chen  has said  he  regularly changes the elements of  his  program  switching jumps depending on how  he  is feeling and whether  he  needs to perform the more challenging ones to game a competition. âI am not a fan of the ultra fluidity of the planned program content â Wylie said. â Nathan  is dealing with a lot of variables. The other variable is  Nathan  is always talking about  his  boots;  he âs got three different pairs of boots. And  he  has been going away [from Gangneung] to practice. So  he âs thinking  where am I practicing today. Iâm not sure those question marks are really what you need in the Olympics.â
Maybe what  Chen  needs is some of teammate Ripponâs infectious exuberance. âIâm able to go out in the individual menâs event and show the world I am a cutthroat competitor and that Iâm an awesome skater â Rippon says. âAnd I want to show why everyone should be involved in skating because it is something that has brought me so much joy  and can bring a lot of other people a lot of joy as well.â
Leading up to the Olympic figure skating menâs event   Nathan Chen  was a gold medal favorite.  Chen âs teammate Adam Rippon  who does not perform some of the more difficult jumps that  Chen  does  wasnât considered a true threat for a medal in the olympic skating menâs event  but managed to endear  himself  to the world with  his  exuberant â and clean â skate.
Now Rippon sits ahead of  Chen  after the Olympic figure skating menâs short program. Ripponâs error-free skate  albeit minus the quad jumps  landed  him  in seventh place while teammate Vincent Zhou is in 12th.  Chen   who made mistakes on all of  his  jumps  is currently 17th. That means  he  will skate in the second group of six skaters in the free program tomorrow  since the skating order is reversed from the rankings after the short program.
 Chen   who is competing in  his  first Olympics  is having a tough time so far. First there was his error-filled short program in the team skating event earlier this week  in which he botched all of his jumps. Then he did the same in the menâs short program.
 Chen âs arsenal of quadruple jumps sets  him  apart from most of the competition; quadruple jumps are worth far more in points than triples are  and itâs easy for  Chen  to add up points and pull away from the field â if  [TGT]  [TGT]   lands  [TGT]  cleanly.
The disastrous short program prompted tweets of encouragement for  Chen   including from Olympian Scott Hamilton. âI respect you. I admire you. I believe in you. Today was a difficult day. Tomorrow is up to you!â
But even if  Chen  skates a dazzling long program peppered with multiple quad jumps  itâs numerically impossible for  him  to climb from 17th place into medal contention â unless most of  his  higher-ranking competitors all come down with the norovirus. âIâve never been in this position before so I donât really know exactly what to do â  he  says.
Even before the menâs short began  Olympian and silver medalist Paul Wylie questioned the fluidity and uncertainty of so much of todayâs Olympic athletesâ schedules.  Chen  has said  he  regularly changes the elements of  his  program  switching jumps depending on how  he  is feeling and whether  he  needs to perform the more challenging ones to game a competition. âI am not a fan of the ultra fluidity of the planned program content â Wylie said. â Nathan  is dealing with a lot of variables. The other variable is  Nathan  is always talking about  his  boots;  he âs got three different pairs of boots. And  he  has been going away [from Gangneung] to practice. So  he âs thinking  where am I practicing today. Iâm not sure those question marks are really what you need in the Olympics.â
Maybe what  Chen  needs is some of teammate Ripponâs infectious exuberance. âIâm able to go out in the individual menâs event and show the world I am a cutthroat competitor and that Iâm an awesome skater â Rippon says. âAnd I want to show why everyone should be involved in skating because it is something that has brought me so much joy  and can bring a lot of other people a lot of joy as well.â