<\/p>\n
<\/p>\n
Beijing, Feb 8 (AFP\/APP):Nathan Chen smashed a world record held by fierce rival Yuzuru Hanyu as the “shocked” two-time reigning Olympic figure skating champion made a shaky start to leave his title defence in trouble Tuesday.<\/p>\n
<\/p>\n
Facing off for the first time at the Beijing Games, Hanyu had to settle for a disappointing eighth in the short programme, with his Japanese teammates Yuma Kagiyama and Shoma Uno second and third.<\/p>\n
<\/p>\n
Chen, who scored 113.97 to comfortably beat Hanyu’s previous short programme record of 111.82, pumped his fist in delight at the end of his performance.<\/p>\n
<\/p>\n
“I have no idea what came over me,” the 22-year-old American said of his reaction. “I don’t generally do stuff like that but it just felt right… I was just really happy and I guess that just came out.”<\/p>\n
<\/p>\n
The score takes the three-time world champion one step closer to the only major prize that has eluded him, a gold medal at the Games.<\/p>\n
<\/p>\n
Hanyu, who scored 95.15 after making a mistake on his first jump, has to close a gap of almost 20 points in the free skate to be able to complete his goal of securing a third Olympic title in a row.<\/p>\n
<\/p>\n
The 27-year-old told journalists he thought the error might have been caused by a hole in the ice made by another skater.<\/p>\n
<\/p>\n
“Actually, I feel really shocked today,” he said. “But I have one more chance in the free programme.”<\/p>\n
<\/p>\n
– ‘Ice Prince’ falters –<\/p>\n
<\/p>\n
Chen had come close to beating the record already when he performed the same “La Boheme” programme for the team event, but his skate on Tuesday was cleaner.<\/p>\n
<\/p>\n
Dressed simply in black and white, Chen was in control as he sped around the rink, landing two quadruple jumps and a triple axel.<\/p>\n
<\/p>\n
Earlier, Hanyu, looking every inch his nickname “Ice Prince” in a sparkling silver and blue top, took to the ice to cheers and screams from the crowd.<\/p>\n
<\/p>\n
Hanyu inspires legions of devoted fans around the world and China is no exception.<\/p>\n
<\/p>\n
The mistake happened on his first jump, intended to be a quadruple Salchow — but he ended up only making one rotation.<\/p>\n
<\/p>\n
Hanyu only arrived in Beijing on Sunday, but was adamant that late arrival was not to blame.<\/p>\n
<\/p>\n
“The preparation to get here was right,” he told the Olympic news site. “It’s mind-boggling because everything had gone right until now.”<\/p>\n
<\/p>\n
Chen said he sympathised — at the 2018 Games he had a disastrous short programme which dashed his hopes of gold.<\/p>\n
<\/p>\n
“Definitely does not feel great,” Chen said. “But you certainly can’t ever count him out. He’s a two-time Olympic champion for a reason.”<\/p>\n
<\/p>\n
Hanyu confirmed he was still planning on performing a quadruple axel — a jump no skater has ever landed in competition — in the free skate.<\/p>\n
<\/p>\n
– ‘Perfect performance’ \u2013<\/p>\n
<\/p>\n
Second-placed Kagiyama, who is coached by his father, put in a jaunty skate to Michael Buble’s “When You’re Smiling”.<\/p>\n
<\/p>\n
“This is my first Olympics,” the 18-year-old said. “To be honest with you, I thought I was going to be very nervous, but from the beginning to the end I think I was just having fun.”<\/p>\n
<\/p>\n
Uno, currently third, said: “Nathan Chen put in a perfect performance… For any athlete it would be extremely difficult, if not impossible to win over him.”<\/p>\n
<\/p>\n
The top 24 skaters go through to the free skate on Thursday.<\/p>\n
Among them is Donovan Carrillo from Mexico — whose regular training ground is a shopping mall ice rink.<\/p>\n
<\/p>\n
Also overjoyed — or in his words, “stoked on life” — was Canada’s Keegan Messing.<\/p>\n
<\/p>\n
He made it to Beijing in the nick of time on Monday after finally getting the negative tests he needed after catching Covid-19 just weeks before. He finished ninth.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
Beijing, Feb 8 (AFP\/APP):Nathan Chen smashed a world record held by fierce rival Yuzuru Hanyu as the “shocked” two-time reigning Olympic figure skating champion made a shaky start to leave his title defence in trouble Tuesday. Facing off for the first time […]<\/p>\n
\n","protected":false},"author":16,"featured_media":36956,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[8],"tags":[16742],"class_list":["post-36955","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-latest-sports-news","tag-chen-smashes-record-with-shocked-rival-hanyu-in-trouble-in-beijing"],"yoast_head":"\n