BEIJING, Feb. 4 (Xinhua) — Three-time world champion Nathan Chen led the determine skating males’s singles after brief program right here on Friday, whereas his arch-rival Yuzuru Hanyu of Japan once more opted to concentrate on the person self-discipline on the Beijing Olympic Winter Games.
The American, 22, six-time nationwide champion of the United States in a row, landed three clear jumps, together with a gap quadruple flip, a triple Axel and a quad putz-triple toeloop, to attain 111.71 factors for his brief program skating to La Boheme.
Japan’s Shoma Uno, the silver medalist of PyeongChang 2018, was the second with 105.46 factors, whereas Olympic athlete from Russia Mark Kondratiuk completed a distant third on 95.81.
Local favourite Jin Boyang, who was the fourth-placed males’s singles skater 4 years in the past, sat on sixth briefly with 82.87 factors, after being deducted one level for a fall on his second soar, a quadruple toeloop.
The rivalry between Hanyu and Chen is predicted to be one of many highlights of determine skating at Beijing 2022.
Hanyu, who competed within the crew occasion in Sochi in 2014 when the competitors was firstly launched to the Olympic program, is aiming to turn into the primary man to win three particular person Olympic gold medals since Gillis Grafstroem received gold in 1920, 1924 and 1928.
The 27-year-old Japanese didn’t compete internationally this season after struggling an ankle ligament harm however got here again to say his sixth nationwide title in December.
Chen has dominated throughout the previous Olympic cycle, successful all three world titles, each Grand Prix Final occasions and each males’s singles competitions on the World Team Trophy.