The Yale freshman scored 90.58 points from his “Caravan” short program. It was his first short program since winning the World title in March.
“It was a good start for my season and for my first short program of the season since being at Worlds last year,” Chen said. “It definitely wasn’t the best in terms of all the technical elements, but the performance was pretty good. The audience was amazing and I had a lot to go off of.”
American Vincent Zhou impressed the crowd with a 76.38-point short program to finish sixth. Jimmy Ma is just behind in seventh place with 71.53 points.
Michal Brezina of the Czech Republic is second (82.09) and Julian Zhi Jie Yee is third (81.52).
The United States sits in fourth, fifth and seventh place after the pairs short program. Ashley Cain and Timothy LeDuc are the top American team, earning a fourth-place finish with 57.72 points.
“We had some mistakes. I fell down, but that happens,” LeDuc said. “It’s ice skating; sometimes it’s a little more slippery and then you fall down. I think we are pretty amped up for the long. We really want to go out there and do what we came here to do. Some things got away from us but that’s OK. We have to take it and move on. We are excited everything is the same. We want to build momentum and keep the season going and do better tomorrow.”
Reigning U.S. champions Alexa Scimeca-Knierim and Chris Knierim are close behind in fifth with 57.31 points, and Nica Digerness and Danny Neudecker, who are making their senior Grand Prix Series debut, are seventh with 51.56 points.
Russia’s Evgenia Tarasova and Vladimir Morozov, and Alisa Efimova and Alexander Korovin are in first (71.24) and second place (62.38), respectively. Germany’s Minerva Fabienne Hase and Nolan Seegert are in third place (60.04).
Skate America is the first stop on the International Skating Union (ISU) Grand Prix of Figure Skating Series. On Saturday, the men’s and pairs free skates will begin the day. The rhythm dance and ladies short program will close out the evening of competition.
NBCSN will air live the men’s free skate from 6-8 p.m. (ET) Saturday, Oct. 21 and the ladies free skate from 4-6 p.m. (ET) Sunday, Oct. 22. On Sunday, NBC will broadcast the men’s free skate with other event highlights from 12:30-1:30 p.m. (ET). The ladies free skate and event highlights will be aired on NBC on Saturday, Oct. 27 from 3-6 p.m. (ET).
For more news and results from 2018 Skate America, please visit the U.S. Figure Skating Fan Zone. The competition can be streamed on the Figure Skating Pass on NBC Sports Gold.
Results
CHEN LEADS AFTER NIGHT ONE OF SKATE AMERICA
Nathan Chen leads the way in the men’s competition after the first day of competition at 2018 Skate America at Angel Of The Winds Arena in Everett, Washington.
