Nathan Chen

[xeyra]

I don't really know how to interpret these practice reports ... and I assume he's probably still jet lagged/tired? His last practice was only like 12 hrs ago and who knows how much sleep he was able to get inbetween ...

Just think of it like this: before his Olympic FS, Nathan popped/tripled basically everything in his practice and was a mess. Then he rotated and landed everything in his FS a few hours later.

Men's practices are always a mess and not predictive at all of anything, jetlag or no. But yeah, it's likely he's mostly still fighting off jetlag.

 

[besti loop]

Is this Nathan and Vincent? I can hardly see lol

https://www.instagram.com/p/Bgig0DeAf-R/?taken-by=rockerskating

Ya, he tagged them both

 

[besti loop]

his hair - and it seems to have gotten longer on the sides and back (?)

The girl who saw him said there was no curls but in this photo posted by Jackie Wong a few minutes ago it looks like it's at least wavy he has some "cowlicks"
https://www.instagram.com/p/Bgir7CngKu9

 

[sheetz]

Article: Nathan Chen no longer grasping for gold going into world champs

 

[yyyskate]

From Jackie's practice repo, Nathan's condition seems not as good as his condition in OG, which before will make me worried, because I am a firm believer that consistent practice leads to success in competition. but with Nathan, having watched Nathan for a while. I really don't know what will happen, which is not a settling feeling for me, but have survived his OG, as a fan, I also have learned...

for the article, first of all, I kinda don't like the conservative tone of it. but I guess perhaps that is for the best for now...

If Nathan wanna re-watch his OG programs in the future, does him know where to watch them kinda hard to find on internet nowadays..

from the article, looks like Nathan will continue with Raf for training.

And fingers crossed for Nathan's college application.

 

[yyyskate]

I see some wave too ... different look that he used to have - shorter on the sides but the longer curls on top - which seems like ages ago - but last seen in only December ... sigh. Looks like it’s now shorter on the top but longer on the sides (?). I think he may have also recently discovered the hairbrush and is smoothing some curl away
LOL at Nathan’s comment under Jackie’s photo - ‘dang Jackie adding “sport photographer” to your resume now??’ - someone is feeling a bit salty haha

LOL, so true though:rofl2:

 

[maryeli]

Thanks for the article, for some reason Polovtsian Dances has been around my mind in recent weeks and when you wrote that Nathan took the song for a second I imagined the face that the other skaters of the worlds training group would have put on (I wish there was a video of that )

PS: Wishing to see him finish his routines with a big smile and all the colleges to which he sent requests accept it

 

[yyyskate]

I'm ok with the conservative tone of the article - Nathan seems to do better when not being crushed by so many expectations and NBC needs to let him breathe (!).

I hope some day, Nathan can do better when being crushed by so many expectations. like the GOAT (Michael Phelps etc) he idolizes.

 

[lurkz2]

I'm ok with the conservative tone of the article - Nathan seems to do better when not being crushed by so many expectations and NBC needs to let him breathe (!).
As for colleges, hoping he gets all the acceptances he wants - guessing he applied to Harvard, Columbia (loves NYC), Stanford, UC Berkeley, UC Irvine, UCLA or maybe USC. Stanford loves athletes and Olympians so I think he will be accepted there for sure. UC Irvine is the closest to him and the easiest to attend and still train with Raf, but guessing he sees it as the least exciting option.
Being in a regular school setting will be quite foreign for him as hasn't he been homeschooled since he was like 14? I can see him loving the college life - a really new experience for him. Wonder if he will be a bit overwhelmed by the attention from so many girls at school and fangirling among his fellow students LOL.
I don't know how he will balance school and skating - it won't be easy.

My personal guess for a college choice that would allow him to continue training with Raf is Caltech, very prestigious yet close enough.

 

[sheetz]

I don't think Caltech would be willing to accommodate his schedule. They just aren't interested in turning out Olympic athletes. Locally, UC Irvine, UCLA, and USC are all accustomed to having world class athletes among their student body population and so would probably be willing to allow him more flexibility in his scheduling.

 

[hhh]

haha he was a bit of a disaster today and thanks for ID'ing the shoes - I'm no sneakerhead like Nathan lol

Is this what he's wearing? I can get the same shoes as Nathan - sweet

https://www.finishline.com/store/br...V1o1-Ch26TwPcEAQYBCABEgKz9_D_BwE&gclsrc=aw.ds

Yes, that’s the one, my brother is a sneakerhead and collect since he was preteen (with holiday gift money) so I kinda know a bit, now I’m tempted to buy a pair too since it’s a running shoes and Nike has been developing this gel foam for 2+ years, I heard it’s really “fluffy”

Thanks for the NBC article. I like his tone of the article, it was a hard lesson but needed. As someone who entered the workforce not long ago, I can relate the reality and certain unexpected pressures. If anyone has the element the emulate Phelp, Curry and LBJ, this guy’s got it in him.

College choices - I don’t believe Caltech is his best choice (if he applied) simply because it’s known for engineering especially aerospace, that’s what my cousin majors in right now but they have fun “nerdy” culture there. My bias is UCI, UC Berkeley, USC and UCLA but I don’t see him at USC though, however, these schools athletic facilities/trainers are state of the art, he can benefit from some post-training treatments I think is crucial if he wishes to prolong his pro career as long as possible. Plus there are plenty of star athletes on these campuses it’ll ease star pressure he may have to deal with elsewhere. Columbia is great too but logistics will take a toll on his energy. NO Stanford (sorry if I offend anyone just a Cali thing).

Last, love the Jackie pre-blur shot, as always, he carries this swagger other figure skaters don’t possess, one reason why I Love seeing his training pics.

 

[yyyskate]

I hope so too - but this is where he's at and he's still so young - hopefully that will come with time.
And didn't Michael Phelps have a subpar (well for him, lol) Olympics which ended up motivating him for 2016 OG? And certainly some of his basketball idols like Lebron and Steph Curry (that one finals game 7 where his 3 seemed to totally disappear) have dealt with ups and downs in their careers.

Also, Yuna Queen admitted that she has learned a lot from her failure (a silver medal) in her first ever big home country(South Korea) international event 2008 GPF in front of her home crowd's expectation.

 

[yyyskate]

I think Nathan's first choice is still Harvard though.
EDIT: actually my fantasy career path for Nathan was win the OGM at 2018 go to Harvard study medicine for 1 or 2 years, then comeback at full speed to win a second OGM at 2022.
Fantasy is sadly :sad21: fantasy...

 

[yyyskate]

More practice for Nathan and it looks like he’s stepped away from the hairbrush. I see some curls are back

https://twitter.com/moooofyy/status/976161025430118400?s=20

new top for Nathan inside and out:luv17:

 

[yyyskate]

says, Nathan's jump is 50/50 this season from this tweeter

 

[yyyskate]

Nathan's new T shirt is under armor shirt???? not Nike????

 

[besti loop]

Nathan's new T shirt is under armor shirt???? not Nike????

Where did u see the Under Armour logo??

 

[yyyskate]

I actually think I'm going to order them LOL - they look cute and very comfy. And a little girly with the hot pink accent - haha. "fluffy" sounds really nice.
ack, no CAL please (though I know his sister is there), Stanford could be a great fit for him other than it's still far from Raf. Slightly closer to Lakewood tho haha. We can agree to disagree on this point lol
Harvard is his dream and Columbia would be great too - but it would be way too difficult to continue training with Raf if he goes to either of these schools.
I agree about his swagger - love his training pics - they're actually my favorites - baggy warmups, black gloves and messy hair.

not girly/pinky enough for me
Stanford is cool:cool14::yes:
Nathan performaned in EWC in Harvard TWICE (https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=V2hlQkVJZhE ).

 

[yyyskate]

Where did u see the Under Armour logo??

from that tweeter tweets

 

[besti loop]

All I saw was his grey Nike shirt
And this long sleeved shirt idk what colour is this:
https://pbs.twimg.com/media/DYwHzQHU8AEIoNu.jpg
https://pbs.twimg.com/media/DYwIQQNU0AA61Ed.jpg
(didn't mention it in this thread but anyway I can't see any UA logo)

And the curls are BACK!!