TAKING OVER THE WORLD
When the young American Nathan Chen claimed the World title in 2018, he did so without having to face his toughest rival, Japan’s Yuzuru Hanyu, who withdrew from the competition due to injury.
This year, with both men present in Saitama, many expected an epic showdown, and while it was an exciting finale to the 2019 World Championships it was Chen who scored the runaway victory in front of a sold out, predominantly homeland audience.
Last to skate in the short program, Chen executed two clean quads (a Lutz and a quad toe-triple toe loop combination), earning a season high score of 107.40.
Hanyu, who had skated first in the final flight of six in the short, got off to a shaky start when he doubled a planned quad Salchow. He closed out the segment in third place with a score of 94.87 — 12.53 points behind Chen. “After I missed my first jump, my mind went blind. Now I feel frustrated with my performance,” said Hanyu, 24. “I have a lot of experience in this type of environment despite not competing for the last few months, and I am not happy about the fact I couldn’t perform at my best for the short program.”
There was no doubt Hanyu would rise to the occasion in the free, as he had done so many times before. But on this night, he needed something extra to overtake his American rival. Hanyu opened his program — “Art on Ice,” by Edvin Marton — with a quad loop, followed by an under-rotated quad Salchow, a quad toe, a quad toe-triple Axel sequence (his new signature combination) and five triple jumps. His performance set the building on fire and brought the audience to its feet. Pooh Bears, flowers and gifts rained down from the stands.
The reigning Olympic champion scored 206.10 for the segment and sat in first place with 300.97 points. Despite the mistake on the quad Salchow, Hanyu said he was pleased with his performance. “I think a lot of people were worried about my quad loop, but I somehow managed to land it,” he said.
Skating second to last in the long program — and immediately after Hanyu — Chen had a lengthy delay while an army of retrievers and volunteers collected the hundreds of items thrown onto the ice for Hanyu. Chen has always said this is to be expected when skating after the Japanese superstar, and it does not bother him. He appeared relaxed and composed as he waited, stroking around the small area of the rink that was clear.
“I always have a great time competing with the best of the—Nathan Chen
