After what has felt like a month in Beijing at the 2022 Olympic Winter Games, the individual figure skating events have final started - and it is the men who kicked us off today with the short program. And it was overall a brilliantly skated event, with 12 men scoring over 90 points, the top 6 men all scoring their personal best, and a world record from one Nathan Chen. World silver medalist Yuma Kagiyama delivered the best short program of his life for second, with defending Olympic silver medalist Shoma Uno in third. Yet, the brilliance of this competition was muted just a tad by a mistake by two-time defending Olympic champion Yuzuru Hanyu.
Chen is halfway there
Following up a clean short in the Team Event, Chen made it two clean short programs, except whereas his Team Event short felt somewhat conservative and safe, today’s was more integrated and performed full out. It’s no exaggeration that the program he put down - when it mattered the most - was the greatest short program he’s ever done.
And it was scored as such - a world record in his second Olympics.
It was also a rare display of emotion. He’s normally all-business and you get as much as a nod of approval after a clean program, but he was visibly happy both after his ending pose and after his scores came out. It was surely a combination of elation, relief, and satisfaction. Four minutes left to Olympic gold.
Is there a path for Hanyu?
A singled opening quad salchow derailed any hopes of final group showdown drama between Chen and Hanyu. After his short program ended, Hanyu went over to his takeoff spot for the sal and inspected it, trying to figure out what made him slip off his edge. He told reporters afterward that there was a divot in ice right where he took off. The mistake cost him some 15 points of base value and execution points, and he will have to fight from behind in eighth place and the second-to-last free skate group, 11 points off the podium.
So can he pull off a comeback for the ages? It’s not out of the realm of possibility. His biggest liability against the three top men is his base value, but he closes that gap with the execution of his elements. If he can somehow put down a clean quad axel, it could change the conversation for him. It will be an uphill battle, and it will require mistakes from the guys ahead of him. This legend will not go down without a fight.
Getting their Olympic moments
There were some stories to be told here in the men’s short program - some you may be familiar with and some not. Keegan Messing’s harrowing journey to Beijing got a happy ending. After testing positive for COVID two weeks ago, he’s had to wait multiple days to just get the clearance to get on an airplane, and by the time he got here, it was yesterday, the day before the short programs happened. Yet his resilience was on full display as he skated a clean short despite barely having any time to train over the past weeks. Similarly, Ivan Shmuratko test positive when he got to Beijing and had to sit out of the Team Event - he also put down a clean skate and qualified for the free skate.
Aleksandr Selevko was another one determined to make that Olympic dream happen. A dislocated shoulder and a hospital trip just a few days ago left him with a barely functioning shoulder. When not in program, he didn’t move his right arm to protect it. And though he finished outside the top 24 and didn’t qualify for the free skate, he got his shot on Olympic ice - and that’s what he will remember.
And fan-favorite Donovan Carrillo, whose journey training in shopping mall ice rinks has been well-documented, skated near clean and smashed his personal best short program score to book himself a place in the top 20 and into the free skate. Carrillo is already making history as the first Mexican figure skater to skate at the Olympics since 1992; he made more history by becoming the first Mexican figure skater to ever qualify for the free skate.
And, of course, Sinnerman
Sinnerman - that is all.