Nathan is like a fireworks show that bursts to life before your eyes, vibrant and explosive. Let’s stay mad about that, not a guy bopping to Rocketman. Chen, undefeated since placing fifth at the 2018 Olympics, cemented his favorite status for the 2022 Winter Games by overcoming an 8.13-point deficit from Thursday’s short program. 9 times out of 10, your fave has experienced some sort of overscoring or gotten away with a clean call on an underrotated jump. April Ross, Alix Klineman are first U.S. Olympic beach volleyball qualifiers, Nathan Chen overtakes Yuzuru Hanyu for world title with five quads. Hanyu, after a flawless short program, erred on his first three jumping passes — putting a hand down on a quad Loop, stumbling out of a quad Salchow and landing low on a triple Axel — and was fourth in the free skate. Great job boys Needless to say, it was pretty crazy. Is Mishina/Galliamov’s “Je Suis Malade” offensive because they don’t have the angst to pull off such a dramatic piece of music? “This is the best I’ve ever seen Nathan Chen,” NBC Sports analyst Johnny Weir said of a man who similarly battled back in the 2018 Olympics with a six-quad free skate to move up from 17th to fifth (under different rules that made six quads more doable). While Yuzuru was earning his stripes on the senior circuit, a young Chinese-American boy was making waves in the junior field. The top rivalry in men’s skating returns to the spotlight as Hanyu will seek to end Chen’s victory streak and establish himself as the favorite heading into the 2022 Beijing Games. However, this is not Nathan’s fault. Russia leads six of the top figure skating nations after the first day of World Team Trophy competition, while Nathan Chen outscored Yuzuru Hanyu in the men's short program. A Clash of Kings: A Few Thoughts on the Rivalry between Yuzuru Hanyu and Nathan Chen January 4, 2020 April 25, 2020 madforskating Leave a comment We are blessed to live in an era with two incredible athletes who have revolutionized the sport of figure skating in only a few years: Yuzuru Hanyu and Nathan Chen. But he wasn’t done yet – he decided to keep skating and pushing himself with new quads. By the time Nathan Chen reached seniors, he was bringing an army of quads to rival the top skaters in the field. OSAKA ー Nathan Chen bested Yuzuru Hanyu in the free skate on Friday night, April 16 in the World Team Trophy at Osaka Municipal Central Gym to keep the United States in the running for the overall title in the six-nation competition. It’s almost impossible to compare them because their styles are so different. Nathan Chen overtakes Yuzuru Hanyu for world title with five quads OlympicTalk 3/27/2021. Their fans could sure learn a thing or two from them. None were close — margins of 43.87, 31.7 and 22.45. They competed head-to-head at March’s world championships, where Chen won and Hanyu earned silver. We’ve seen nasty rivalries before. Somehow, a group of Hanyu fans decided that Nathan had no right to skate to Elton John’s music because Nathan was a straight man. STOCKHOLM, Sweden — The faceoff between Yuzuru Hanyu and Nathan Chen was no contest.. Japan’s Hanyu, looking every bit the champion of the sport, won the short program Thursday at … Kagiyama, coached by his father, an Olympian in 1992 and 1994, continued an ascent. Judges are human, and they can get swept away in the fervor of a moment, even though they have sworn to be unbiased. ( Log Out /  It could help him close the gap to Chen. But this hostility regarding Nathan and Yuzuru seems to come from every other person except the skaters themselves. The glimmering ice reflects in Yuzuru’s eyes, because he’s won, and the smile on his face is stinging in the cold. There are plenty of skaters I don’t personally care for – sometimes because I don’t like their skating and sometimes because they’ve done things I don’t condone – but I don’t believe in wishing injuries on anyone. He gave two great performances and the judges generously rewarded that. The American backed up his short program win with another triumph on Friday (16 April) at the World Team Trophy event in Osaka, Japan, the three-time world champion beating two-time Olympic winner Hanyu Yuzuru in the men's free skate, the two scoring 203.24 and 193.76, respectively. “I gave it all I got,” a smiling Brown, who has skated on the top senior international level since 2013, told coach Tracy Wilson as he left the ice. I have a lot of mutuals through the skating fandom, and I enjoy hearing their different opinions. Currently, Chen. I’m not saying this is right; I’m just saying it can’t be fixed. Yuzuru’s fans painted him as an “exotic gay icon” for his elaborate costumes and Japanese heritage while his haters portrayed him as a “wimpy, effeminate Asian boy”. After the bronze, he said he wanted to continue training a quad Axel, which no man has landed in competition. Fill in your details below or click an icon to log in: You are commenting using your WordPress.com account. Criticizing a skater for their interpretation of a piece is one thing, but claiming it’s “offensive” just because you don’t like it is quite the reach. Is Hubbell/Donohue’s “Romeo and Juliet” offensive to teenagers because they were adults who couldn’t quite embody the theme of young love? Against all odds, he came back from an injury to win the 2018 Olympic gold, becoming the first man in over 50 years to defend his Olympic title. No man has won three consecutive Olympic titles in 90 years. OR: Yuzuru Hanyu loses his second gold to Nathan Chen at Rostelecom 2017, and finds himself, again, seeking a private rematch. In fact, I wonder if Yuzuru would’ve retired after the 2018 Olympics if Nathan hadn’t rose to challenge him. It’s his lowest finish in any competition since November 2014. Change ), You are commenting using your Twitter account. In theory it should be enough for him to have the same technical score as the strongest skaters and surpass them in components. Like the Space Race during the Cold War pushed both countries to explore new technology, rivalry pushes athletes to excel. OlympicTalk is on Apple News. Nathan Chen, the 17-year-old U.S. champion, faced the pressure of skating after Olympic champion Yuzuru Hanyu with a gold medal at stake on Sunday.. Chen’s winning score in the free skate was 203.23 points, while Hanyu was second with 193.76. Sports [ICE TIME] Yuzuru Hanyu Gets Another Shot at Beating Nathan Chen at World Team Trophy. Who could forget the mud-slinging between Alexei Yagudin and Evgeni Plushenko? I literally saw someone blame Nathan for the “white imperialism” of the United States. The bitter fan wars between supporters of Evgenia Medvedeva and Alina Zagitova still echo in my head. As a former figure skater herself, she brings her personal expertise combined with an entertaining yet respectful way of delivering her opinions. Show full articles without "Continue Reading" button for {0} hours. Chen… Local favorite Yuzuru Hanyu of Japan handled a quadruple salchow, a quad toe loop-triple toe loop combination, and a triple axel for 107.12 points. Chen, winner of the past five U.S. titles, opened with a quadruple flip and added a triple axel and a quad toe loop-triple toe loop combination for a total of 109.65 points. But all of a sudden going into my program, my balance started to crumble.”. Chen, after falling on a quad Lutz to open his short program, began his free skate by nailing the same jump. How about the epic Grishuk/Platov and Usova/Zhulin situation in Russian ice dance, complete with a love affair and a catfight in a bar? Preview: Leading after the short program, Hanyu Yuzuru is a skate away from third world title. He lost all three head-to-heads with Chen since the 2018 Olympics. It was extreme, and half of the accusations weren’t even true. Skaters experience overscoring and underscoring all the time, but we can’t call Interpol every time we disagree with the judges’ decisions. Except this time, it gets away from both of them. The American was stunning in the free skate after being third in the short. Meanwhile, Yuzuru was getting called a series of homophobic slurs, even though he’s never said anything about being gay, straight, bi, or otherwise. #figureskating #yuzuruhanyu #nathanchenAww they both are so cute and humble I wish Nathan can be nice friends with Yuzu like Javi . Favorite us! Elton John was a universal icon loved by people around the world, both gay and straight. I swear, some of Nathan’s fans would blame Yuzuru for the Japanese attacking Pearl Harbor, and some of Yuzuru’s fans seem to believe Nathan dropped the atomic bomb on Hiroshima. Brown landed an under-rotated quad to open his free skate and kept his standing from the short program. And in the practice, it wasn’t that bad either. Sometimes, the fandom can get so polarized on these rivalries that it becomes unpleasant being a fan of either. I personally think Nathan was overscored at the Grand Prix Final and Yuzuru’s PCS should have been higher. The 21-year-old skater is the first American to accomplish this feat since Scott Hamilton. Even the shade between Johnny Weir and Evan Lysacek was cause for excitement. It seemed so strange that a friendly competition between two respectful young men turned into a vicious flame-war amongst the fans and media. Two-time Olympic champion Hanyu’s botched triple axel landing Thursday was the main factor in his being 2.68 points behind three-time world champion Chen in the technical scores. “I wouldn’t necessarily say this was my best free program ever, but it’s definitely one that I’ll remember forever,” he said. according to the International Skating Union, In sequel to 2017, Karen Chen reprises her worlds role with the same aplomb. Three-time world champion Nathan Chen beat two-time Olympic gold medalist Yuzuru Hanyu in the men’s short program at the figure skating World Team Trophy on Thursday. Connect with friends faster than ever with the new Facebook app. We are blessed to live in an era with two incredible athletes who have revolutionized the sport of figure skating in only a few years: Yuzuru Hanyu and Nathan Chen. For the first time since the Grand Prix Final in December of 2019, it’s Hanyu Yuzuru versus Nathan Chen.. Hanyu, the two-time Olympic champion, and Chen, the two-time and reigning world champion, will go head-to-head this coming week at the ISU World Figure Skating Championships, set to begin Wednesday (24 March) in Stockholm, Sweden.. It’s such a wide umbrella, but we keep enforcing these stereotypes through the way we interact with the world. A flawed Hanyu took bronze, another 2.59 back, after topping the short program. Since … Nathan Chen became the first Asian American figure skater to win three consecutive men's titles at the World Figure Skating Championships on Saturday. He was the 2020 World junior silver medalist and took third at December’s Japanese Nationals behind Hanyu and Olympic silver medalist Shoma Uno (who was fourth at worlds). Utah’s Nathan Chen tops Yuzuru Hanyu to win men’s free skate at World Team Trophy Chen has not lost a competition since the 2018 Olympics. When Yuzuru skipped the post-Olympic Worlds due to injury, Nathan picked up a World title with ease, and then it became clear: these two men were the leaders of the sport. They called it “cultural appropriation” and even “homophobia”, which I find insane. He totaled 320.88 points to prevail by 29.11 over another skater from Japan, 17-year-old Yuma Kagiyama, becoming the second man to three-peat as world champion in the last 20 years (after Canadian Patrick Chan). Hanyu Yuzuru would like a third - and charming - world title to his name.. Series ( Log Out /  Two-time Olympic champion Yuzuru Hanyu skipped the morning workout, but came for the afternoon session, where he did a run through of his free skate to “Heaven and Earth.” Three-time world titlist Nathan Chen also worked on his free skate to “Selections from Philip Glass” in the afternoon. There have been many ridiculous, out-of-control debates about these skaters, but the most ridiculous one I’ve read involved Nathan’s new free skate to a medley of Elton John sons. Happy skating, and may the odds be ever in your favor. You need to calm down.”, This week, my shoutout goes to my amazing friend Kayla, who has just started a skating blog titled “On the Edge”. Being gay is not a culture, like being Chinese or Hispanic. Hanyu spoke last year about lacking the motivation to skate on. The notoriously heated debates about Virtue/Moir vs. Papadakis/Cizeron – and before that, Virtue/Moir vs. Davis/White – grew so volatile that I stayed out of both fandoms and became a fan of Kaetlyn Osmond and the Shibutanis. Yuzuru and Nathan are better skaters because of each other. They’re both incredible, but in different ways. Todd Eldredge joins us to recap the men's event at the 2021 World Figure Skating Championships. Over-all in the history of skating, that remains to be seen. Although Yuzuru has the largest fan base in the skating world, I’ve seen a surprising amount of people wishing ill on him, including some rejoicing over his many injuries. At least 3 killed and 27 others injured when boat … Change ), 2020 Russian Nationals: My Live Play-by-Plays of the Ladies’ Short Program, https://ontheedgefigureskating.wordpress.com. Finally, credit to Maria Kateshova for the hilarious header photo! From the interviews I’ve read, Yuzuru and Nathan seem like two of the loveliest people in the sport, and they’ve always acknowledged each other with respect. Their styles are polar opposites, but they have two things in common: insane talent and genuine respect for each other. I think they would be aghast to see how their “fans” are attacking their competitor with such cruelty and glee. A few years ago, my favorite pair team was held up with high PCS for a terrible skate; at the next event, they were robbed of a medal because of low PCS. Inspired designs on t-shirts, posters, stickers, home decor, and more by independent artists and designers from around the world. Although he missed the podium at the 2017 World Championships, he was positioning himself well for an Olympic medal in 2018. Nathan Chen, 21, winner of the previous five U.S. titles, opened with a quadruple flip and added a triple axel and a quad toe loop-triple toe loop combination for an aggregate of 109.65 points. Hanyu … Nathan Chen already has established himself as one of America’s greatest figure skaters. “Overall, I wasn’t feeling that bad. High quality Yuzuru Hanyu gifts and merchandise. At the age of 19, he defeated 3-time World champion Patrick Chan for the Olympic gold medal and established himself as the leader of the men’s field. “I am not at his level yet, but I hope one day to be able to compete alongside him as an equal,” Kagiyama said last March, according to Europeonice.com. Nathan Chen has gone undefeated in the 2020-21 figure skating season.. Russia leads six of the top nations after the first day of the World Team Trophy, while Nathan Chen outscored Yuzuru Hanyu in the men's short program. His love for Winnie the Pooh is known worldwide; if you ever wonder how much he is loved, just look at the ice covered in Pooh bears after one of his performances. No matter how things turn out, I’m just happy to cheer for them both. FIGURE SKATING WORLDS: Results | TV, Stream Schedule. Likewise, there are some people who managed to be offended by Yuzuru’s “Let’s Go Crazy” short program or people who made fun of him because of his birdlike costumes. Nathan Chen soars past Hanyu Yuzuru in free skate to capture third world figure skating gold in a row. Out of human decency, we need to respect these skaters even if we dislike them, unless they’ve done something unforgiveable (such as Morgan Cipres, who sexually harassed a 13-year-old girl at his rink). Yuzuru Hanyu claims silver at World Championships behind Nathan Chen | … Chen is only 21, but he’s now facing challengers who see him as a role medal. ( Log Out /  They didn’t come close to matching Chen. He put out the score to beat, which Hanyu could not sniff with four quads in his free skate 16 minutes later. Nathan was portrayed as “a nice, all-American guy” by his fans and a “privileged straight American” by the haters. He meets Nathan’s gaze for a second, … 17-year-old Kagiyama holds steady for the silver medal, while Hanyu earns the bronze. If Yuzuru wouldn’t say Nathan’s choreographic sequence is sickening, neither should you. Since then, he has become an icon in the world of skating, crushing world records and racking up dozens of titles at major competitions. Kagiyama, second after the short program, landed three quads in his free skate. Microsoft and partners may be compensated if you purchase something through recommended links in this article. Yuzuru reminds me of a beautiful swan – graceful, elegant, and powerful. “It was very exhausting, and it was like I was losing my balance one by one, but I tried to make sure that I don’t fall,” Hanyu said, according to the International Skating Union. He met it, … In my six years as a skating fan, I had never seen such a frenzy about scoring. Change ), You are commenting using your Google account. These two guys became symbols of things that had nothing to do with them – capitalism, homophobia, racism, and more. Even if you think Nathan missed the boat on interpreting the music, I don’t think it’s any more offensive than any other program that isn’t a good fit for a skater. How can you compare the grandeur of Ancient Rome with the rolling beaches of Hawaii? I wish her a new year full of happiness and love because she deserves nothing but the best. By topping Hanyu in Friday’s free skate with a score of 203.24 points to 193.76 at Maruzen Intec Arena Osaka, […] That doesn’t mean we can’t be upset when the judging is wrong, but screaming conspiracy theories isn’t the way to make change. April Ross, Alix Klineman are first U.S. Olympic beach volleyball qualifiers, Nathan Chen overtakes Yuzuru Hanyu for world title with five quads originally appeared on NBCSports.com, Like us on Facebook to see similar stories, Wave of abortion appeals headed to the Supreme Court in coming months, 2 Thai workers killed in Israeli-Palestinian war. Fans could sure learn a thing or two from them ice, two-time Olympic gold medalist Yuzuru Hanyu become. Portrayed as “ a nice, all-American guy ” by the haters had never such! Situation in Russian ice dance, complete with a love affair and a “ straight. Not “ corruption in sport ” – this is right ; I ’ m just happy cheer. Full of happiness and love because she deserves nothing but the best a young boy! 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