Nathan Chen

Chen was part of a baby skater boom following the 2002 Winter Olympics in his home town.[28] He started skating in a pair of his sister's white skates at age 3 in his first coach Stephanee Grosscup's beginner class at a new rink in the Salt Lake City Sports Complex, which served as a practice rink during the Olympics. He entered his first figure skating competition in 2003.[28][29] From age 7, he started competing at the U.S. Junior Figure Skating Championships at the juvenile and intermediate levels. He placed 10th at the juvenile boys' level in 2007, won bronze in the juvenile boys' division in 2008, and captured the intermediate men's silver medal in 2009.[30] Moving up to novice in the 2009–10 season, he competed at the 2010 U.S. Senior Championships in Spokane and became the youngest U.S. novice men's champion in history at the age of 10.[31][32] Due to his young age, he remained at the Novice level for the 2010–11 season and became the first male skater to repeat as U.S. novice champion at the 2011 U.S. Championships in Greensboro, finishing almost 36 points ahead of his nearest competitor in the final standings.[33][34] Chen debuted as a junior domestically in 2011-12 and won his first national junior men's title at the 2012 U.S. Championships in San Jose.[35] Making his first international appearance, he won the novice men's event at the 2012 Gardena Spring Trophy in Italy.[36]

During the early years of his career, Chen had started working with former Czechoslovakian skater Karel Kovar in Ogden. Kovar used to train with renowned Russian figure skating coach Alexei Mishin and taught Chen to pull his arms across his torso in a "seat belt" position when he rotated, a position Chen still uses to this day.[37] Kovar introduced Chen to fellow Czechoslovakian skater Jozef Sabovčík nicknamed "Jumping Joe".[38] Sabovčík was the first coach who told Chen not to stop in the middle of a program during a run-through.[18] Chen worked with Kovar until age 9 but had also begun taking lessons from Genya Chernyshova who was local to Salt Lake City and more easily accessible.[39][21][40] He started working with jump specialist Rafael Arutyunyan when he was 10, and he and his mother would make the long drive from Salt Lake City to Lake Arrowhead in California several times a year. The family didn't have a lot of money to spend on skates, lessons and competition costumes, so Chen and his mother sometimes slept in the car. Chen's mother would pay Arutyunyan for lessons, and Arutyunyan would give the money back to Chen who sometimes tried to give it back to Arutyunyan by stuffing it in the coach's pocket before running away. Then one day, at 11 years old, he said, "Mom, if we do not move I will not make it," and Chen's parents decided to split up the family with Chen and his mother relocating to Southern California.[41][42][16] Arutyunyan became his main coach in December 2011.[43]

Chen became age-eligible to compete in the ISU Junior Grand Prix in 2012-13[35] and made his debut in Austria where he secured the title with the combined total score of 222.00 with 37 points to spare.[44] He withdrew from his second event in Croatia after sustaining a lower leg injury[45] but went on to win the junior men's bronze medal at the 2013 U.S. Championships.[46] In 2013-14, Chen placed first at both Grand Prix assignments in Mexico and Belarus[47][48] and qualified for the 2013 Junior Grand Prix Final where he came third.[49] He won his second U.S. junior title with a record short program score of 79.61 and a record cumulative score of 223.93 at the 2014 U.S. Championships,[50][51] and captured the bronze at the 2014 World Junior Championships a few months later.[52]

Chen at the junior men's medal ceremony at the 2014 U.S. Championships

2014-15 was a season plagued by injuries and Chen was only healthy enough to compete at one Grand Prix event in Croatia where he finished second behind Shoma Uno.[53] He debuted as a senior domestically by winning the 2015 Pacific Sectional Championships and advanced to the 2015 US Championship.[54] A week before his senior national debut, he developed a growth-related heel injury and competed with modified versions of both programs. He placed eighth overall.[55] After nationals, Chen was assigned to the 2015 World Junior Championships where he placed 4th.[56] In 2015-16, Chen stood atop the podium at the Junior Grand Prix Final[57] after winning both Grand Prix events in Colorado Springs[58] and Logroño.[59] The following month, Chen made history at the 2016 U.S. Championships by becoming the first U.S. man to land two quadruple jumps in a short program[60] as well as four quadruple jumps in a long program. He finished third overall behind Adam Rippon and Max Aaron, the former not attempting any quads and the latter landing two. This reignited the long-standing debate over whether artistry should trump athleticism.[61][62] While attempting a quadruple toe loop in the exhibition, Chen sustained an avulsion injury to his left hip and underwent surgery. He withdrew from the 2016 World Junior Championships as well as the 2016 World Championships.[63][64] After a month of rehabilitation at the U.S. Olympic Training Center in Chula Vista, he went to the U.S. Olympic Training Center in Colorado Springs to work with strength and conditioning specialists and continued his rehabilitation. He didn't resume full training till around July.[65][66]

In preparation for his senior international debut, Chen worked on a new short program with Marina Zoueva,[67] and by September, Zoueva and Oleg Epstein were coaching him in Canton.[68] Chen opened the pre-Olympic season at 2016 CS Finlandia Trophy by winning gold ahead of training mate Patrick Chan.[69] At his senior Grand Prix debut at 2016 Trophée de France, he landed clean quadruple lutz and triple toe combinations and clean quadruple flips in both segments, receiving 92.85 points for the short program and breaking Evan Lysacek‘s long standing U.S. record of 90.30.[70] He ended up fourth overall and returned to California to work with Arutyunyan before NHK Trophy[67] where he finished second behind Olympic champion Yuzuru Hanyu.[71] Chen opened the 2016-17 Grand Prix Final by placing 5th in the short program but won the free skate with a performance that included four quadruple jumps, earning a total combined score of 282.85 points, that was enough for silver behind Hanyu. At 17, he became the second-youngest man to medal at a Grand Prix Final after Evgeni Plushenko who was 16 in 1999.[72]

Chen at the 2016 Grand Prix Final

At the 2017 U.S. Championships in Kansas City, Chen performed two quadruple jumps in the short program and made history by becoming the first skater in the world to land five clean quadruple jumps in a free s[73] He won his first senior U.S. title with record scores (106.39 in the short program, 212.08 in the free skate, 318.47 overall) to become the youngest champion in more than 5 decades.[74][75] A few weeks later, Chen won the 2017 Four Continents Championships. He scored 103.12 in the short program, 204.34 in the free skate, and 307.46 in combined total, breaking the 100 (short program), 200 (free skate) and 300 (combined total) barriers for the first time in his career,[76][77] and became the youngest Four Continents men's champion in history (until Kao Miura's win in 2023).[78] When the 2017 World Championships rolled around, the boots that Chen had begun using were on the verge of falling apart but he felt his back-up boots were too new and decided to try to solve with duct tape and hockey laces.[79][80] Chen finished sixth overall and felt disappointed. "It wasn’t at all the program I wanted to do. I made a whole bunch of mistakes," he remarked. Chen's placement, however, combined with teammate Jason Brown’s seventh-place finish, ensured that Team USA would be able to send three men to the 2018 Winter Olympics.[81] Chen capped off the season at the 2017 World Team Trophy where he finished second in the short program[82] and fourth in the free skate.[83] The U.S. team finished third overall.[84]

Chen's first competition in the Olympic season was 2017 CS U.S. International Figure Skating Classic. Working with choreographers Shae-Lynn Bourne and Lori Nichol, he debuted a short program set to "Nemesis" and free skate with music from Mao's Last Dancer. He landed his first quad loop in the free to become the first skater in history to land five different quads in competition.[85][86] After placing first in the short program and second in the free at 2017 Rostelecom Cup, he defeated Yuzuru Hanyu to win his first Grand Prix title.[87] At 2017 Skate America, Chen secured his second title, finishing ahead of teammate Adam Rippon. With the two wins, Chen earned the top qualifying spot for the 2017-18 Grand Prix Final,[88] where he had a narrow victory over Shoma Uno, and became the first U.S. man to win the final since Evan Lysacek in 2009.[89][90] At the 2018 U.S. Championships serving as trials for the Olympics, Chen performed a total of seven clean quadruple jumps (two in the short program and five in the free skate) to win his second consecutive national title.[91] Afterward, Chen, Adam Rippon and Vincent Zhou were named to the Olympic Team.[92]

Chen (center) with Shoma Uno (left) and Mikhail Kolyada (right) at the 2018 Worlds medal ceremony

At the 2018 Winter Olympics in Pyoengchang, Chen performed poorly in the men's short program in the team event and placed fourth[93] but would eventually go on to win the bronze alongside his U.S. teammates.[94] A week later, Chen had another disappointing performance in the men's individual short program and finished seventeenth heading into the free skate. "Honestly, it was bad," he said afterward. "I made as many mistakes as I possibly could have."[95] Chen placed first in the free skate with a new personal best score of 215.08 and made history by becoming the first skater to land six quads in a free skate.[96] He finished fifth overall.[97] After coming down with the flu, he withdrew from the gala and left Pyeongchang early to avoid infecting other athletes ahead of their competitions.[98] A month later, in March, Chen won his first world title at the 2018 World Championships. He finished first in both programs and became the first skater in history to land eight quadruple jumps across a single competition, two in the short program and six in the free skate.[99][100] He also became the first American man to win the World Championships since Evan Lysacek in 2009 and the youngest World champion since Evgeni Plushenko in 2001. His margin of victory over silver medalist Shoma Uno (47.63 points) was the greatest at a World Championships, Olympic Winter Games, and Grand Prix Final under the historical (before 2018-19) ISU Judging System (IJS).[101] In the spring, Chen was accepted into Yale University. "Going to Yale next fall is the goal right now," he said. "I am going to Bulldog Days, where I will talk about everything and try to figure things out."[102]

Chen during his free skate at the 2018 Internationaux de France

Chen's first competition as a full-time college student was Japan Open alongside Jeremy Abbott, Bradie Tennell, and Mariah Bell where he finished fourth in the free program with Team North America finishing third overall.[103] At 2018 Skate America, Chen skated to "Caravan" by Fanfare Ciocărlia in his short program[104] and "Land of All" by Woodkid in the free skate from the movie 'Desierto' about immigration into the U.S.[105] He won both segments and defended his title, winning by the largest point margin in the history of the competition.[106] At 2018 Internationaux de France, Chen fell on his quadruple flip in the short program and entered the free skate in third behind Jason Brown.[107] He bounced back and won the event with a total score of 271.58.[108] At the 2018–19 Grand Prix Final, Chen won both the short program and the free skate, albeit with mistakes, to collect his second Grand Prix Final title.[109] The gold marked Chen the fourth man to win consecutive Grand Prix Final titles since the event debuted in 1995.[110] At the 2019 U.S. Championships in Detroit, Chen received a record score of 113.42 for a two-quad short program and a record score of 228.80 for a four-quad free skate, totaling a record combined score of 342.22 points. He won the championship by 58.21 points over Vincent Zhou in second place and became the first man to win three straight national titles since Johnny Weir in 2004–2006.[111][112]

Competing at the 2019 World Championships in Saitama during Yale's spring break,[113] Chen successfully defended his world title and broke the world record for the free skate and total score, with 216.02 and 323.42 points respectively. He won the championship by 22.45 points over Yuzuru Hanyu and became the first U.S. man to win back-to-back world titles since Scott Hamilton (1981-1984).[114] With teammate Vincent Zhou bringing home the bronze, two Americans stood on the men's podium at Worlds for the first time since 1996, when Todd Eldredge won gold and Rudy Galindo took the bronze in Edmonton.[115] Chen traveled back to Japan to conclude his season at 2019 World Team Trophy where he won both segments with Team USA placing first.[116][117][118]

Chen (center) with Yuzuru Hanyu (left) and Kévin Aymoz (right) at the 2019–20 Grand Prix Final podium

Chen opened his season by winning the free skate in the men's event at Japan Open, contributing to Team North America's bronze medal finish.[119] He went on to defend his title at 2019 Skate America in Las Vegas which was the first time anyone had won Skate America three times consecutively since Todd Eldredge won four (1994-1997). The 44-point margin of victory was the largest ever in the history of the event.[120] Two weeks later, Chen won his second straight Internationaux de France title in Grenoble and became the first singles skater since Evgeni Plushenko nearly two decades earlier to win eight straight Grand Prix events.[121]

At the 2019-20 Grand Prix Final in Turin, Chen and Yuzuru Hanyu were expected to battle for gold and silver.[122] Chen had a clean short program with a new personal best score of 110.38, 0.15 short of Hanyu's world record at the time.[123] He went on to set new highest scores of 224.92 in the free skate, and 335.30 in the combined total, breaking his own world records in the two segments respectively, winning the title with 43.87 points over Hanyu.[124][125] Suffering from the flu, Chen was only able to fully resume training less than two weeks before the 2020 U.S. Championships, where he captured his fourth national title with a new U.S. national short program record of 114.13, to become the first man to win four consecutive U.S. men's titles since Olympic champion Brian Boitano in 1988.[126][127] He was assigned to compete at the World Championships in Montreal, but these were canceled as a result of the COVID-19 pandemic.[128]

With the pandemic still raging, skaters were largely assigned to the 2020-2021 Grand Prix based on geographic location, with Chen again set to compete at Skate America.[129] He won both the short program and the free skate, with a total score of 299.15, despite popping two planned jumps in the free.[130][131] Afterward, speaking to Olympic Channel, Chen revealed that he was taking a break from school to focus on skating and the 2022 Winter Olympics. "(The Olympics) are the end goal," Chen said, "It's the driving force behind a lot of what we do and a lot of the decisions that we make."[132] Chen made history at the 2021 U.S. Championships, winning his fifth consecutive national title. He became the first man to win five in a row since Dick Button's seven (1946-1952). Chen cited Button as inspiration. "It's incredible to try to follow in his footsteps," Chen said of Button. "It means the world. Dick is a true skating icon, and it just feels incredible to be trying to chase something that someone like that has done. I'm nowhere near the level he was at, but it's just cool to be able to be even mentioned in his sort of realm of legendness." During his free skate, Chen attempted five quads, landing four cleanly.[133]

At the 2021 World Championships in Stockholm, Chen placed third after the short program with a score of 98.85 after a fall on the quadruple Lutz.[134] He skated a clean free program with five quads and finished first with a score of 222.03. He won his third consecutive world title with a cumulative score of 320.88 and became the first man since Patrick Chan (2011–13) and the first American (male or female) since Scott Hamilton (1982–84) to win three world titles in a row.[135] In a post-competition interview, Chen said he felt he had grown since the 2018 Olympics when he was seventeenth after the short program: "I think having had that experience now going into this competition, it definitely helps me retain some resiliency, I think. And I think that definitely, you know, thankfully came into play today."[136] Chen finished his season at the 2021 World Team Trophy in Osaka where he placed first in both segments, with Team USA securing the silver overall.[137][138]

Chen began the Olympic season at 2021 Skate America where he placed fourth in the short program. He fell on his first quadruple jump, and a poor landing on the second quadruple jump left him unable to execute the required two-jump combination. He placed second in the free skate despite doubling two of his six planned quads, finishing in third place overall behind Vincent Zhou and Shoma Uno. Speaking about the end of his undefeated run since the 2018 World Championships, Chen said, "it's not devastating. It was inevitably going to end as a winning streak at some point in time, and I am really proud of these guys up here."[14] Chen rebounded a week later at 2021 Skate Canada International and won both segments to take home the gold with a 47.63 point margin over silver medalist Jason Brown.[139] Chen's results secured him a place in the 2021-22 Grand Prix Final which was subsequently canceled due to restrictions prompted by the Omicron variant.[140] At the end of November, Chen enlisted Massimo Scali to help provide finishing touches on the presentation of his Olympic programs. After initially skating to Benjamin Clementine's "Eternity" and a Mozart medley, he had decided to return to his "La Bohème" short program and Rocketman free skate from 2019-20 but was unable to work with choreographer Marie-France Dubreull in person due to the ongoing pandemic.[141] At the 2022 U.S. Championships, Chen won his sixth consecutive U.S. title, a feat only achieved by the legendary Dick Button 70 years earlier (1946–52). He scored 115.39, a new national record, in the short program[142] and 212.62 in the free skate for a combined total score of 328.01.[143]

A month later, at the 2022 Winter Olympics in Beijing, Chen was the U.S. entry in the men's short program in the Olympic team event where he had delivered a subpar performance four years earlier. He skated clean and placed first with a new personal best of 111.71, securing ten points for Team USA. He remarked, "it feels great to have a short program I actually skated well, at an Olympic experience."[144] The U.S. team would go on to win the silver medal, Chen's second Olympic medal. However, following a positive doping test of Russia's gold medalist Kamila Valieva, the team members were not awarded their medals, pending an investigation, which is still ongoing as of February 2023, a full year after the event took place.[145] Two days later, Chen set a world record in the men's short program with a score of 113.97,[146] topping the previous record of 111.82 set by Yuzuru Hanyu in 2020.[147] Chen won Olympic gold with a free skate score of 218.63 that included five quads, finishing with a combined total score of 332.60.[148] His free skate costume, designed by longtime collaborator New York based fashion designer Vera Wang, is now part of the permanent collections in the Smithsonian Institution's National Museum of American History.[149] After the Olympics, Chen withdrew from the 2022 World Championships due to injury.[150]

Following the cancellation of the 2020 World Championships during the COVID-19 pandemic, Chen coached young skaters at a rink in Connecticut and completed the CERS (Continuing Education Requirements), a mandatory course via the Professional Skaters Association, to get his certificate. He scored a 100% on his module exam.[167] In June 2022, Chen taught at a seminar in Mexico alongside Mariah Bell and Katarina Kulgeyko,[168] and is scheduled to join Javier Fernandez's annual summer camp in Spain in August 2023 with Brian Orser, Tracey Wilson, and Florent Amodio.[169]

According to Forbes, Chen had long-term deals with eleven partners including Bridgestone, Panasonic, Comcast, Nike, Toyota and Visa, as well as OMEGA,[177] Coca-Cola, United Airlines and Kellogg's,[28] and also worked with consumer brands like Grubhub, Airweave, and Invisalign.[178][179][180] He appeared in crossover TV adverts for the 2022 theatrical film Jurassic World: Dominion with fellow Olympians Shaun White and Mikaela Shiffrin[181] in addition to promotional pieces and content for other sponsors.[182][183] Chen is a brand ambassador for Panasonic and fronted their "Green Impact" initiative alongside tennis player Naomi Osaka and Olympic swimmer Michael Phelps. The company enlisted the three celebrity athletes for its sustainability mission, and Chen made appearances for Panasonic at CES 2023 in Las Vegas, an annual tech conference organized by the Consumer Technology Association.[184][185]

In 2021, he was part of luxury jewelry designer David Yurman's "My New York" social campaign[186] and collaborated with them to create an exclusive bracelet benefiting AAPI non-profit collective Gold House.[187] In January 2023, Chen was announced as one of the celebrity guests on the fifth season of Time to Walk on Apple Fitness Plus which is an audio walking experience produced by Apple that pairs music and inspirational monologues from famous musicians, athletes, and actors with exercise tracking. Other Time to Walk celebrity guests include Dolly Parton, actress Jamie Lee Curtis and singer Shawn Mendes.[188][189] Chen has been represented by IMG since the beginning of his senior career.[190]

The Salt Lake City-Utah Games Committee, bidding to bring the Olympic Winter Games back to Salt Lake City in 2030 or 2034, named Chen to its Athlete Advisory Committee alongside alpine skiers Lindsey Vonn and Ted Ligety, speed skater Apolo Ohno and others in June 2021.[191] Chen said that "the developed infrastructure is already in place, so it makes a lot of sense to bring it back to Salt Lake City" and "having an Olympics in a home town of a lot of young athletes can be very inspiring."[192]

Chen was announced as Goodwill Ambassador for the Lake Placid 2023 FISU World University Games, commonly known as Lake Placid 2023[193] and spearheaded Panasonic's "Green Impact" campaign at the International University Sports Federation's World Conference that was held in conjunction with the games. The theme of the conference was climate change.[194]

Chen's memoir One Jump at a Time: My Story was released in English by HarperCollins in November 2022 and in Japanese by Kadokawa in late March 2023.[195] The book chronicles Chen's journey in figure skating from childhood as the youngest son of Chinese American immigrants in Salt Lake City to his rise and the challenges that include his family's struggles and determination to fund expensive training, his hip injury and subsequent surgery in 2016, and his disappointment at the Olympic Winter Games in 2018.[196][197] In February 2023, HarperCollins released Chen's first children's book Wei Skates On which is a social emotional picture book, with illustrations by Lorraine Nam, about feeling nervous and reframing negative thinking. The book tells the story about a young boy named Wei who learns to face his fears and find the joy in sports no matter what happens.[198][199]

Chen will be featured in the children's book Who Is Nathan Chen? which will be released by Penguin Books in August 2023.[200] The book is part of their bestselling book series Who Was? which includes more than 250 titles and has sold more than 20 million-plus copies worldwide. The series tells the stories of prominent figures and subjects, covering everything from sports to politics.[201][202] Chen has also appeared in multiple well-known fashion and news magazines such as Vogue, GQ, Harper's Bazaar, Time, Teen Vogue, Elle, Cosmopolitan, Glamour, and Spur Magazine, as well as graced the covers of World Figure Skating Magazine and International Figure Skating Magazine.[note 3]

Chen starred in three episodes of the Elton John produced From the Top: Olympians and Rockstars with singer-songwriter Hayley Kiyoko on the Olympic Channel in 2021, a show that paired Olympic athletes with music stars. John served as executive producer and noted that there "has long been an inextricable connection between music and sport, two worlds that often come together for cultural moments around the world".[214][215] When Elton John and Britney Spears released the acoustic version of the John song "Hold Me Closer" on November 18, 2022, they also released an official music video starring Chen skating at Yale's Ingalls Rink commonly known as the "Whale."[216] The collaboration between the duo can be traced back to 2019 when Chen first selected John's songs from the Oscar-winning motion picture "Rocketman" for his free program.[217] In March 2023, Chen attended Elton John AIDS Foundation's 31st annual Academy Awards party in West Hollywood.[218]

In July 2022, Chen made an appearance as a creator on the American dance competition television series on NBC called Dancing With Myself in which one creator demonstrates a series of dance moves and each contestant must then perform those moves.[219] He was featured in an episode of Secret Celebrity Renovation on CBS in August 2022, a show that gives celebrities the opportunity to gift a renovation to a person who helped guide them to success. For Chen, who has long acknowledged the many people who have helped him along the way, that meant gifting the Salt Lake City Sports Complex, that houses the rink where he took his first steps on the ice as a toddler, a new skater's lounge and dressing room.[220] Chen dedicated the renovation to childhood coaches Stephanee Grosscup, Karel Kovar and Chenya Chernyshova.[221] He went on to reunite with all four of his siblings to compete on the Steve Harvey-hosted game show Celebrity Family Feud against Marvel's Shang-Chi actor Simu Liu's team. The episode aired on ABC in August 2022.[222]

Chen has made appearances on a variety of daytime television shows and late night talk shows such as the Today Show,[223] The Late Late Show with James Corden,[224] The Tonight Show Starring Jimmy Fallon,[225] and Access Hollywood.[226]

Chen regularly supports charitable causes and has since 2017 been involved with "Figure Skating in Harlem", a non-profit organization aiming to help girls of color transform their lives and grow in confidence, leadership and academic achievement. In 2022, he was one of the honorees at the organization's 25th gala event.[227][228] Chen worked with StandUp for Kids, a national non-profit program that strives to end youth homelessness. The organization has a branch in Orange County near Chen's training base, and Chen provided an opportunity for the kids to skate with him at Great Park Ice in 2021.[229] Chen is an investor in the nonprofit collective Gold House that advances the interests and safety of people of Asian and Pacific Islander descent[230] and was part of the delegation when Gold House rang the opening bell at the Nasdaq Stock Exchange on May 2, 2023.[231] He spoke out on violence against Asian Americans back in 2021, calling it "unacceptable".[136] "I worry about my parents more so than myself. I don’t want them to go out in the park to walk and then get beat up or [have] worse things to happen to them," Chen said.[232]

In the spring of 2022, Chen partnered with the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services to aid them in their public education initiative "We Can Do This", a campaign aiming to promote the importance of COVID-19 vaccines,[233] where he got the opportunity to speak to immunologist and former NIAID director Dr. Anthony Fauci.[234][235] Chen had been open about his anxiety before traveling to the 2021 World Championships in Stockholm in the midst of the pandemic.[236] After the U.S. Supreme Court's decision to overturn Roe vs. Wade in June 2022, Chen issued a statement on his social media supporting women's right to choose and donated to the National Network of Abortion Funds.[237]