So long the dominant force in men’s figure skating, Nathan Chen captured the only prize to have eluded him as he glided to a gold medal at the Beijing Winter Olympics. The young American was at his glorious best, graceful, artistic, and yet still fun—and avoiding the nervous errors that cost him a medal at Pyeongchang four years ago. Skating to a medley from the Elton John biopic Rocketman, Chen’s tricks included a quad flip with triple toe loop, a quad flip, and a triple axel. “Rocket Chen” Team USA tweeted after his victory. “It’s just a whirlwind right now,” Chen told NBC. “Everything’s just happening so fast, but I’m so happy.” The 22-year-old was already leading going into the free skate and scored a high of 218.63 points for a combined 332.60. Yuma Kagiyama and Shoma Uno, both of Japan, won silver and bronze. Chen and his teammates may yet pick up another gold in Beijing, if the Russians are disqualified from the team event after reports of a failed drugs test.
