US Figure Skating Championships 2022: Results, Latest Schedule After Saturday

Nathan Chen set the U.S. National Figure Skating Championship men's short program record Saturday en route to a dazzling performance that highlighted Day 5 of the action at Nashville, Tennessee's Bridgestone Arena.

Chen's 115.39 points broke the record he previously set in 2020 (114.13 points).

Ashley Cain-Gribble and Timothy LeDuc dazzled once again to win the pairs program, as they took first in the free skate after landing first in the short program two days earlier.

In the ice dance, Madison Chock and Evan Bates won gold after holding off a strong challenge from Madison Hubbell and Zachary Donohue.

Saturday's action will lead to the final event of the championships, with the men's free skate occurring Sunday at 12:15 p.m. ET.

For now, here's a look at the Saturday results as well as some highlights and notes.

Men's Free Skate (Top 5)

1. Nathan Chen (115.39)

2. Vincent Zhou (112.78)

3. Ilia Malinin (103.46)

4. Jason Brown (100.84)

5. Jimmy Ma (91.62)

Full results here.

Championship Pairs: Total (Top 5)

1. Ashley Cain-Gribble and Timothy LeDuc: 225.23 (79.39 Short Program, 145.84 Free Skate)

2. Jessica Calalang and Brian Johnson: 209.87 (77.48 Short Program, 132.39 Free Skate)

3. Audrey Lu and Misha Mitrofanov: 191.54 (68.11 Short Program, 123.43 Free Skate)

4. Emily Chan and Spencer Howe: 177.25 (61.94 Short Program, 115.31 Free Skate)

5. Katie McBeath and Nathan Bartholomay: 167.10 (50.11 Short Program, 116.99 Free Skate)

Full results here.

Championship Ice Dance (Top 5)

1. Madison Chock and Evan Bates: 227.37 (91.94 Rhythm Dance, 135.43 Free Dance)

2. Madison Hubbell and Zachary Donohue: 225.59 (89.39 Rhythm Dance, 136.20 Free Dance)

3. Kaitlin Hawayek and Jean-Luc Baker: 205.68 (79.39 Rhythm Dance, 126.29 Free Dance)

4. Caroline Green and Michael Parsons: 203.27 (80.85 Rhythm Dance, 122.42 Free Dance)

5. Emily Bratti and Ian Somerville: 187.98 (76.70 Rhythm Dance, 111.28 Free Dance)

Full results here.

Men's Free Skate

Chen nailed a pair of quads en route to his mind-blowing performance. Highlights can be found below.

"Chen looked at home in his return to 'La Boheme,' opening with a quadruple flip before hitting a triple Axel and closing with a quad Lutz-triple toe-loop combination.," Nick McCarvel of Olympics.com wrote.

"He earned Level 4s for each of his spins and his step sequence, helping him to a 48.46 overall in Program Components, second only to the ethereal [Jason] Brown (49.15)."

Chen is searching for his sixth straight national title and second consecutive Olympic appearance. He's also been on fire the last four years.

He rebounded from a 17th-place finish in the short program to take first in the free skate en route to fifth overall.

Vincent Zhou appears well in line to grab an Olympic spot alongside Chen and a to-be-determined third teammate.

Jackie Wong of Rocker Skating gave more insight into Zhou's performance Saturday:

Ilia Malinin, 17, is in third place, with Jason Brown ending fourth. Malinin was a surprise third-place finisher, but he was sensational Saturday. It appears he'll be going all out Sunday to earn the final Olympic spot, too:

Olympic gold medalist Kristi Yamaguchi shouted out the top four American competitors:

Fourteen skaters will take part in the free skate Sunday.

Pairs

Cain-Gribble and LeDuc finished what they started on Thursday, taking first overall after a first-place finish in the free skate Saturday.

The Cain-Gribble/LeDuc pair, which also took first in the short program, shone once again:

"I don’t have a lot of words. It’s just crazy," Cain-Gribble said, per Dave Skretta of the Associated Press.

"We've visualized this moment so many times and to have done a performance like that, and the whole week the way it went—it's just surreal."

LeDuc, who came out publicly as nonbinary earlier this year, also had a message to share following the team's victory:

Two American pairs will be headed to the Olympics, with LeDuc and Cain-Gribble assuredly one of them, as noted by Wong and Bally Sports' Maggie Hendricks:

Jessica Calalang and Brian Johnson closed the pairs competition, and as Wong noted, the group needed to be perfect. They were not, but they were very good in their own right en route to a second-place finish.

Audrey Lu and Misha Mitrofanov, who finished third in the short program, also took third in the free skate to win the bronze.

Ice Dance

Bates and Chock are now three-time U.S. national champions after their victory:

Per OlympicTalk, Bates will become the first U.S. figure skater to take part in four Olympic Games.

You can also learn more about the duo here:

The gold medalist's training partners, Hubbell and Donohue, finished a close second in their last-ever national performance:

Robert Samuels of the Washington Post complimented the duo as they made their nationals exit:

Kaitlin Hawayek and Jean-Luc Baker held off Caroline Green and Michael Parsons to finish third.