Nathan Chen | Page 643 | Golden Skate

Nathan Chen

Lol I was very skeptical about airpod and got one right after I saw him using it.
 
It's taken me a while to write up anything about the Japan Open, because I was rather disappointed with how Nathan performed in this event. I know it's Nathan's life, not mine, but it's hard to see him have to go through the learning curve of how to balance the different aspects of his life, as from my perspective on the outside, it looks like he's not living up to the potential of his talent or the potential of this choreography.

At the same time, I'm also very curious to see as to how he will adapt based on the results of this past competition, but it doesn't reassure me to see that he is staying up till 1 AM to finish his school assignment.

On the other hand, it's easy for me to talk. I probably only have a tenth of the discipline that Nathan has, and I can't imagine the pressure of expectations and personal goals that are on his shoulders.
 
It's taken me a while to write up anything about the Japan Open, because I was rather disappointed with how Nathan performed in this event. I know it's Nathan's life, not mine, but it's hard to see him have to go through the learning curve of how to balance the different aspects of his life, as from my perspective on the outside, it looks like he's not living up to the potential of his talent or the potential of this choreography.
I won't repeat my cautionary statements about taking the results of JO too seriously, but I will add that while it is true that Nathan may not be able to devote as much time to his skating as before, he may very well take away things from his college experience that could give him a different perspective on other aspects of his life, including his skating. Figure skaters have a tendency to live in a bubble, and I personally think more than a few of them could benefit from having experiences similar to Nathan's.
 
I won't repeat my cautionary statements about not taking the results of JO too seriously, but I will add that while it is true that Nathan may not be able to devote as much time to his skating as before, he may very well take away things from his college experience that could give him a different perspective on other aspects of his life, including his skating. Figure skaters have a tendency to live in a bubble, and I personally think more than a few of them could benefit from having experiences similar to Nathan's.

Can't agree with this more!
 
There's a lot of fan chatter about a cute Shoma interview where he mentions Nathan. I'll translate that little bit.
https://twitter.com/NathanChenJP/status/1050006548611706880

Nathan is someone whom I quite like, both his skating and his character. That's why I cheer for him, or rather I hope he does his best. Although he's more skilled than I am and I want to compete with him, I still want him to do his best. Even at competitions I find myself unintentionally cheering for him at rinkside. I've met him many times like at The Ice, but since I don't speak English I don't say anything. Yet I somehow carry a one-sided affection for him. It's not in my nature to start up a conversation. With anyone. LOL
 
I saw people talking that Nathan should be more strategic and dial back on quads, especially for relatively easier competitions like Skate America. I've been wondering, if his ultimate goal is OGG, Beijing, shouldn't he work on maintaining his technical difficulty? Yes, maybe he can drop 1, 2, or even 3 quads and still win today, but if he needed those quads back 4 years later, will he still be able to pick them up? As someone relatively new to FS, I feel if his goal is the OGG then he needs to keep training and competing with a layout that will get him there, so 4 years later he is not only capable of 5-6 quads but also comfortable with them.
 
I saw people talking that Nathan should be more strategic and dial back on quads, especially for relatively easier competitions like Skate America. I've been wondering, if his ultimate goal is OGG, Beijing, shouldn't he work on maintaining his technical difficulty? Yes, maybe he can drop 1, 2, or even 3 quads and still win today, but if he needed those quads back 4 years later, will he still be able to pick them up? As someone relatively new to FS, I feel if his goal is the OGG then he needs to keep training and competing with a layout that will get him there, so 4 years later he is not only capable of 5-6 quads but also comfortable with them.

Nathan has to qualify for the Olympics and help team USA get as many spots as possible.
With the change of rules, a fall is very costly, -5 GOE and -1 for a fall.
A triple with + GOE and may end up higher points than a fall on a quad.Added to that the reduced time to 4 min

For short term, Nathan has qualify for GP Finals by getting the highest placing possible at GP competitions. Unless Nathan aims this year to be experimental to tweak his layout around and not bother abt results.

The usual way I think is to use an easier layout, get used to the rule changes, then add the difficulty. Its not like the Olympics is next yr or 2020, there's still time.

It is not concidental the other top men have only 4 planned quads in their layout. Those men are currently having tough time with the 4 quads + other elements in 4 min.
 
It is not concidental the other top men have only 4 planned quads in their layout. Those men are currently having tough time with the 4 quads + other elements in 4 min.

I am not super familiar with other top men but don’t they always have 4 or less planned quads. From what I saw even juniors are doing harder layout than some of the top men.
 
Nathan cares about athletic achievement - he still went for 6 quads at worlds when he only needed like 2 (or even 1 - according to Ryan Bradley). So if he feels he is capable - I don't see him scaling way back on the quads.

Even though he's a first year college student - he's still the current world champion! I am sure he still wants to remain competitive among the very top men - Yuzuru, Shoma, etc. Yuzuru is planning on 4A and is capable of very high GOE on all his elements, Shoma is looking quite strong so far, and Boyang now has 4Lo and supposedly planning to compete a 5 quad/2 3A FS. So I'm guessing Nathan might not want to greatly reduce his technical difficulty. Even if it's in his best interest ... and we know he can be stubborn!

Seems that he can win his GPs with easier tech - but that might not work for GPF/Worlds. Though guess he has to qualify for those first!

Saw this on twitter today - Nathan: 'Going in the direction you want to go, vs. taking the easy route and starting to backtrack'
https://twitter.com/88emon_bit/status/1050005600711528448
 
https://twitter.com/NathanChenJP/status/1050006548611706880
Nathan is someone whom I quite like, both his skating and his character. That's why I cheer for him, or rather I hope he does his best. Although he's more skilled than I am and I want to compete with him, I still want him to do his best. Even at competitions I find myself unintentionally cheering for him at rinkside. I've met him many times like at The Ice, but since I don't speak English I don't say anything. Yet I somehow carry a one-sided affection for him. It's not in my nature to start up a conversation. With anyone. LOL

Thank you sheetz for the translation. I was about to ask you to translate the tweets and you already posted the translation.

Shoma is the sweetest person in the world!!! I always remembered the nice words right after the Olympics he said about Nathan's courage and his historical free skate in PC. But Shoma, the affection is not one sided, Nathan has so much respect for what you have done and spoke lots of good things about you, he even offered to take you tour around LA during last year's interview. Please keep up with your good work and keep Nathan well challenged and motivated!

Short article from Champs Camp on Nathan.

Nathan Chen is Ivy League Bound
http://content.digitalpub.blue-soho...SKATING/html/index.html?page=12&origin=reader

Pg17 offered tiny little bit more information than the interview we read back in August. It mentioned that Nathan was planning skyping with Raf, and "his quads firing on all cylinders and many run-throughs of his new programs under his belt". Plus the fact that he seemed to be in good mood -- from the previous days' IGS of him finishing assignment after 1:00 pm and today's happy unboxing of his new Nikes, I think he is pretty confident about future competitions.
 
I saw people talking that Nathan should be more strategic and dial back on quads, especially for relatively easier competitions like Skate America. I've been wondering, if his ultimate goal is OGG, Beijing, shouldn't he work on maintaining his technical difficulty? Yes, maybe he can drop 1, 2, or even 3 quads and still win today, but if he needed those quads back 4 years later, will he still be able to pick them up? As someone relatively new to FS, I feel if his goal is the OGG then he needs to keep training and competing with a layout that will get him there, so 4 years later he is not only capable of 5-6 quads but also comfortable with them.
That would be great in an ideal world, but that's also unprecedented pounding on the human body we probably have never seen before in figure skating for 4 straight years.

Somtimes when I see people talk about his 5/6 quad FS and how he should arrange his quads to be strategic and so on, the only thing I can think of is the hip injury he had in 2016....
 
I am not super familiar with other top men but don’t they always have 4 or less planned quads. From what I saw even juniors are doing harder layout than some of the top men.
With the reduced time, less 1 jump, harsher penalty for falls, it needs different strategy. Oh ya, now only the last 3 jumps get 10% bonus, only 1 quad can be repeated.

http://www.fisg.it/upload/result/4802/index.html
Shoma, the OG &World silver medalist, landed 4 quads but with flaws.

https://skatecanada.ca/2018-autumn-classic-international/
Click on 'judges scores' . Yuzuru landed 2 quads, fell on 1, poped the 4th quad.

Boyang Jin, the OG 4th place finisher, attempted a 4 Loop at a competition in China, new jump for him. Not sure if Boyang plans 4 or 5 quads cos he didnt manage to land even 3 quads in that competition.

http://www.kraso.sk/wp-content/uploads/sutaze/2018_2019/20180920_ont/
Mikhal Kolyada, the 2018 Worlds bronze medalist. Landed 1 quad, fell on 1, not sure if he was planning a 3rd quad. He looks like to have ditched the 4 Lutz, which he was famous for falling during OG season.

Yuzuru, Shoma & Kolyada won the challanger events despite the mistakes and falls.

Javier, the OG bronze medalist is not mentioned cos he is in semi retirement/retirement after Olympics

So, Nathan needs to work out with his coach what is the layout he can realistically perform which will obtain the max pts. By WC 2019 that is, where his role as the main US mens single is more crucial.
 
Boyang Jin, the OG 4th place finisher, attempted a 4 Loop at a competition in China, new jump for him. Not sure if Boyang plans 4 or 5 quads cos he didnt manage to land even 3 quads in that competition.
Boyang attempted 5 quads and two 3As, but fell twice and popped twice. He only landed 4Lo (UR?) and the two 3As.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=IS3Ybye1vaI

This fan was in attendance at JO and confirms that Nathan did not practice 4Lz during the 6 min warmup.
https://ameblo.jp/babemama2015/entry-12411087073.html
 
Dima was planning to do 3 quads, as he did in lombardia, but changed his plan due to lack of training as a result of the hard fall during practice


Vincent has recovered from his back injury and training well. According to the most recent conference call this week, he is planning 2 quads for sp, not sure about 3 or more for his fp.

yes, Dmitri Aliev successfully did 3 quads at Lombardia. All in the 1st half of the program.
http://www.fisg.it/upload/result/4802/index.html
So, I cant fathom Nathan backloading 3 quads in a 4 min program when the other men were struggling with 1 quad in last 3 jumps.

Vincent Zhou only managed 2 quads at US Classic, 4Lz & 4S, both downgraded. If according to his usual practice,when healthy, he will go for 4 to 5 quads.
http://www.usfigureskating.org/leaderboard/results/2018/28067/SEGM004.html
 
Back
Top