US Men's Olympic Figure Skating 2022: Free Skate Scorers, Highlights, Reaction
Team USA's Nathan Chen capped off a magical run at the Winter Olympics in Beijing with a majestic performance in the free skate to win his first career Olympic gold medal.
Dancing to a medley of Elton John songs led by the hit "Rocketman," Chen dazzled with a nearly flawless run to earn the top score in the free skate with 218.63 on Thursday (Wednesday ET) for a combined score of 332.60.
Chen recorded a world-record score of 113.97 in the men's short program on Tuesday (Monday ET). He's the seventh American to win Olympic gold in men's figure skating.
The 22-year-old and three-time reigning world champion entered this year's Games with the clear goal of making up for his fifth-place finish in the 2018 Winter Olympics in Pyeongchang, South Korea, and he did just that.
Japan's Yuma Kagiyama won the silver medal in his Winter Olympics debut with a 201.93 in the free skate and a combined score of 310.05.
Kagiyama's teammate Shoma Uno won the bronze medal by finishing with 187.10 in the free skate and a combined score of 293.00. It's Uno's second Olympic medal of his career, having won silver in 2018.
Japan's Yuzuru Hanyu, the two-time Olympic gold medalist, placed fourth. He had surprisingly missed his first jump in the short program and placed eighth, creating an uphill battle in the free skate.
Hanyu, who had displayed a quadruple axel in his practice session, attempted the jump in the free skate but fell down. That jump is four-and-a-half revolutions and had never been landed successfully in competition.
Hanyu fell a second time when he attempted another quadruple jump. He recovered and later landed a quadruple toe in the latter half of his run. For his effort, he had the third-highest score in the free skate with 188.06.
Team USA's Jason Brown placed sixth with a combined score of 281.24. Brown was competing in his first Olympics in eight years after failing to qualify in 2018.
The skaters will have a few days off as the next figure skating competition will be the pairs rhythm dance on Saturday.
