Yuzuru Hanyu Commands the Stage. Nathan Chen Falls Off It.
But Chen, who has been the most accomplished performer of quadruple jumps in the field, fell on his opening quad lutz on Friday, stumbled out of a triple axel
and did not complete two jumps in combination, which is required.
A week ago, in his short program in the team competition, Chen fell on a triple axel
and completed only two revolutions on a planned four-revolution jump.
PYEONGCHANG, South Korea — On Friday, the short program in men’s Olympic figure skating answered two urgent questions
about recovery — one from a recent case of nerves, the other from an extended absence because of injury.
It would be nice to see that from a few guys, to kind of raise the roof.”
Here’s how the men’s figure skating short program unfolded:
The first American to take the ice is Vincent Zhou, 17.
But Yuzuru Hanyu, 23, the defending Olympic champion from Japan, competing for the first time in nearly four months
because of an ankle injury, skated a performance of great technical skill, languid beauty and strategic cleverness.
He fell on his triple axel but took first place after 12 skaters with a score of 85.11 points.