#inside skating

It started with Nathan Chen performing a beauty of a short program in Megasport Arena in Moscow, on October 20; and it ended pretty much the same, a day later, with the American running away with the first gold medal of the Grand Prix series, defeating Yuzuru Hanyu, the World champion en titre, in what was their first encounter this season.

That’s the short version of the story.

The longer one says that Nathan has an incredible set of programs for the Olympic season – the short one, to “Nemesis” by Benjamin Clementine, choreographed by Shae-Lynn Bourne, and the long one, to the soundtrack of the movie “Mao’s Last Dancer”, choreo. by Lori Nichol. The American surrounded himself with the talent and creativity of some of the top choreographers – and you could surely see that in his first outing of the programs, in Moscow. An explosion of energy and movement, him owning the music and the character(s) – almost a new face of Nathan, one that got massive appreciation from fans, journalists, figure skating experts altogether. In fewer words, Nathan’s short program especially has been the revelation of this year’s edition of Rostelecom Cup. There, we said it.

The longer version of the story also says that Nathan Chan is definitely a contender for the Olympic podium in PyeongChang. He has the technical abilities – his quad Lutz-triple Toe is definitely one of the best in business; not to mention his overall arsenal of jumps – but he also has the artistry, and his programs this season are really meant to show off his qualities. Relatively new on the senior stage, Nathan’s progress was fast (more like in Shoma Uno’s case), and he now proves himself a tough opponent to Yuzuru Hanyu – if we rightfully consider Yuzuru the benchmark and the main favorite to win the gold in South Korea.