Nathan Chen
- Thread starter matmuh
- Start date
Why on this particular occasion?
I'm always worried (for several reasons, not just one) no matter what comp, how big or important it is or who his competitors are. Well, except for sth. like the ISP challenge maybe.
Today's FS warm-up practice has just completed and the camera man followed him quite a bit. 4Teu3F, 4T3T, 3A(turn), 4Lz, 4F3T, 3Lz, 4S all 4-5 GOE quality except the 3A. Several more individual 4Lz, 4S and 3A and they were all good. SO he's in good condition.
Hm, I think his jumps look worse than they did several years ago (except for 3A). They seem more stable and consistent than back then, but worse quality (I notice each time I rewatch some of his older programs). I used to think it's because he was practically coach-less during his time at Yale, but now he's back with Raf and they actually got worse, it's really weird.
I thought it has something to do his body weight (more muscle as he grows older) and not having a soft knee makes it look more obvious.
Happy with what he achieved today. I didn’t expect he would clean this FS after watching the run-throughs during practice. Congrats on the 5th title
- Joined
- Mar 27, 2018
I wasn't expecting him to be clean either, though I didn't expect the 4lz mistake (he said he didn't either) which is why I worried about the last jumping passes. His step sequence was brilliant. Congrats and very happy he's a 5x national champion. I wonder if worlds will actually happen.
I didn’t like this new costume at all. I don’t think it fits his style.
I always think he has competition nerves but he usually overcomes with strong technique and good preparation. He had two mistakes in his 4 quad FS at SA so the logical next step is to clean it before adding another one. Maybe it’s because he saw the top Japanese guys’ performances at Japanese nationals and felt he needed to try the 5 quad lay-out to complete with Yuzu which somewhat increased his pressure here at nationals.
I always think he has competition nerves but he usually overcomes with strong technique and good preparation. He had two mistakes in his 4 quad FS at SA so the logical next step is to clean it before adding another one. Maybe it’s because he saw the top Japanese guys’ performances at Japanese nationals and felt he needed to try the 5 quad lay-out to complete with Yuzu which somewhat increased his pressure here at nationals.
- Joined
- Jan 12, 2014
His jumps were a little off, but I do love this program - especially the step sequence. You can see he truly feels it. 5X National Champion - and in a row...that’s truly impressive! Each year, his picture is taken next to the trophy with him holding up his fingers to represent number of championships he’s won. This year, it will be all five fingers! As for his jumps, he’s been doing a lot of experimenting lately (changing entrances and layouts, upping the difficulty, putting his flip combo in second half of short program, etc.), so I assume it will take a little time to find a certain comfort level with them. He’s challenging himself - and I find that very commendable.
I was gonna say sth. similar. I may be totally over-analysing and seeing things that are not there or projecting, but to me he didn't look confident at all this weekend, and it was a bit hard to watch. He seemed tentative when setting up jumps or even whenever he was getting into his starting position and he generally didn't look or sound like he enjoyed competing, nor did he have the kind of swagger he sometimes showed in the past (the cocky smile at the start of his FS at GPF '19 or that rascal charm and confident calm from both SP and FS respectively at Worlds '19).
It's why I don't get whenever people say nothing can faze him and he always delivers, I never felt that way, we've seen plenty examples where he made mistakes or when the pressure got to him (not only the big ones such as Worlds '17 or Olys, but I would also say that there were other competitions where I felt he was more tentative or tight, just judging from his body language during his skate).
Anyways, back to this weekend, I think he might feel a different kind of pressure nowadays. Because he's now back full time with Raf and doesn't have school as an 'excuse' or explanation if he doesn't deliver (plus, last year during Nationals he was recovering from the flu, so another reason why he didn't 'need' to be perfect). I think there might be both, a sense of ppl having different expectations of him now, but also he himself might feel that he should be able to deliver more now. Whereas during the last two years, even if he wasn't perfect or 'only doing 3-4 quads', it was enough in everyone's minds.
Plus, there might be pressure from Raf too, I imagine. He must've been eager to finally have the chance to continue where they left of two years ago, instead of merely maintaining a somewhat lower level technically (jump-wise) the way they did these past two seasons.
Also, now that school is on the back burner, his results in skating have more of an importance, because it's his main focus, and there's no school and grades putting things into perspective (that's what he used to say all the time over the past two years).
And last but not least, with the Olympic season approaching fast, and new competitors arising or old ones getting back into shape, everything must feel a bit more important, too, I assume.
Jackie's press conference notes:
Nathan spoke about his 2021 goals for Team Toyota.
Instagram update
Men's podium
USFS acknowledging Nathan's 5peat
Nathan spoke about his 2021 goals for Team Toyota.
Instagram update
Men's podium
USFS acknowledging Nathan's 5peat
This is hilarious! Damn, Shae is my size, does that mean Nathan would fit into my clothes?
I wonder whose idea it was, did Nathan mention that he's thinking of getting a new one or did Shae object to his other costume or was that sth. she had envisioned for him all this time, since she first choreographed it for him?
But also LOL at Nathan's approach to costuming, I love love love the fact that he refuses to 'play along' with those imo silly and superficial expectations in figure skating (says the one who likes to complain about his hairdo
). I'll never understand the obsession with costumes in this sport...I personally hate the neckline and the design with the slashes looks cheap and tacky to me, but oh well, at least it's loose and flowy, which I like, and he still looks nice in it, because he has nice proportions.
- Joined
- Mar 27, 2018
Yeah, don't really buy that pressure just can't get to him at all. I'm sure the pressure gets to him sometimes. You can't have people say he'll be the 5x champion without any question and mentioned that he hasn't lost since 2018 without it getting to him a bit. There's got to be pressure to keep that same level up and not lose. Anyway, probably not a big deal. The man did win by 30 points, best not to look too deeply into anything.
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