Rippon scored 87.95 en route to a seventh-place finish in the short program.
"I am just so excited that I have been able to skate so well these Olympic Games,” Rippon said. “To be here is like a dream come true and to come out here and perform and put on some of my best performances makes it even sweeter and even better."
Vincent Zhou earned a personal best 84.53 points in his debut on Olympic ice and is in 12th place. Zhou opened his program with a quadruple Lutz-triple toe combination, marking the first time a quadruple Lutz was successfully landed at the Olympic Games.
"I felt that it went pretty well,” Zhou said. “There were some things that were tight and a little bit stiff, because I was really nervous. Overall I skated well. I feel l performed well and did the best that I could.”
Nathan Chen finished a disappointing 17th place, scoring 82.27 points in his first competition since the men’s short program in the team event.
“[It] just was rough,” Chen said. “I did all the right stuff going into it; it should have been different, but stuff happens. Take it for what it is and move on.”
The men’s free skate takes place on Saturday at 10 a.m. (Friday, 8 p.m. ET).
