Men's LP JGP Austria 2012

[FSGMT]

Chen looks like he lives and breathes COP. He's back loading his jumps and hitting level 4s in both programs. On top of that, he's got a ridiculous PCS for his age.

And I think he deserved even more: his programs was full of difficult and intricate transitions, and they still gave him just 6.46 6.86 and 6.71 for PE and CH clearly deserved to be 7s (at least)... I think it's because he's relatively unknown for the international judges, so they didn't want to give him scores that could be criticized, exactly what they did with Radionova in France: she obviously deserved a higher PCS, but they gave her just 24 and 52, then, here in Linz, they gave a score close to 26 when the program was exactly the same, artistically... Only when a skater is well-known they dare to give him/her high PCS...

[Kalina]

Chen is just amazing, well done to him huge, huge score.
I don't find it in myself to hype him though, not yet. He's so talented, but so tiny... he still hasn't hit the big growth spurt (which is just normal of course, considering he's 13) and nobody knows how growing up will affect his skating: look at what happened to Hino. Shoma Uno, who's almost 15 and even shorter than Nathan, is in the same situation. We'll see in a few years.

[gmyers]

Farris looked dead on his skating and imo, his spins have actually regresse. Nathan if all goes well will be a major competitior by 2018
Russian men are soo bad right now, they can't seem to spur a new crop like their ladies, their only hope now is Kovtun to make it to the GPF

Farris spins could be stronger- better spins plus quad 2 3a maybe farris can beat chen

I forgot Kovtun was even participating in the JGP this season. He is the best possibility. So strange how one system can produce such huge progress in ladies and just the opposite mens.

[missysays]

Chen is just amazing, well done to him huge, huge score.
I don't find it in myself to hype him though, not yet. He's so talented, but so tiny... he still hasn't hit the big growth spurt (which is just normal of course, considering he's 13) and nobody knows how growing up will affect his skating: look at what happened to Hino. Shoma Uno, who's almost 15 and even shorter than Nathan, is in the same situation. We'll see in a few years.

That's true. You never know what's going to happen to a skater once they hit their growth spurt and the anxieties of adolescence hit - just look at Caroline Zhang and Mirai Nagasu. They were hailed as the next coming but adolescence/ flawed technique/ and physical growth have slowed the advancement of their competitive careers. But the one thing Nathan seems to have in spades even at this young of an age is calculation and focus. You can literally feel it pouring out of him on the ice. He has an agenda out there and he goes out there like he's consciously managing his performance- it's kind of extraordinary.

If that mental capacity holds up, no matter what physical challenges come I have a feeling that he'll overcome. Hope his coach is smart though and paces his training and practice regime so that he doesn't accumulate wear and tear injuries too early in his career. I have a feeling that he's a practice beast and hope it doesn't result in career- derailing injury.

But wow- my hat off to him. I want to be Nathan when I grow up.

BTW, I just noticed that they have him on Team B already on Team USA. Kudos!

[l'etoile]

We have two monsters in this event, Chen and Radionova. WOW.

[SkateFiguring]

WOW again for Nathan. He skates like a Senior, just small in size but big in attitude. He resembles Kurt Browning the most to my eyes, in his body and movements. PCS are great but he still needs deeper (held) edges and power to compare to the top Men, Senior Men that is. Imagine what a little growth can do for him! Definitely the future for the US Men skating, or US figure skating period.

[colleen o'neill]

Hoo-ee!.. Nathan ! What a treat !

[sillylionlove]

WOW!!! Nathan Chen is better then half the senior men! Good for him! What a great program.

[Bluebonnet]

Wowwwww! Nathan Chen! Huge scores!!!

[ILoveFigures]

Chen is just amazing, well done to him huge, huge score.
I don't find it in myself to hype him though, not yet. He's so talented, but so tiny... he still hasn't hit the big growth spurt (which is just normal of course, considering he's 13) and nobody knows how growing up will affect his skating: look at what happened to Hino. Shoma Uno, who's almost 15 and even shorter than Nathan, is in the same situation. We'll see in a few years.

That's true. You never know what's going to happen to a skater once they hit their growth spurt and the anxieties of adolescence hit - just look at Caroline Zhang and Mirai Nagasu. They were hailed as the next coming but adolescence/ flawed technique/ and physical growth have slowed the advancement of their competitive careers. But the one thing Nathan seems to have in spades even at this young of an age is calculation and focus. You can literally feel it pouring out of him on the ice. He has an agenda out there and he goes out there like he's consciously managing his performance- it's kind of extraordinary.

I just have to point out that a growth spurt does not have the same effect on guys as it does on girls, so it most likely will not be an issue. At the same time Chen has very good technique in all fields, and as long as you have solid technique to begin with, which Mirai and Caroline did not, a growth spurt should not be too much of a problem.