Americans Nathan Chen and Alysa Liu are both in first place after the first day of competition at the Grand Prix and Junior Grand Prix of Figure Skating Final in Torino, Italy.
Skating at the Torino Palavela which housed the 2006 Olympic Winter Games figure skating competition, Chen earned 110.38 points in Thursday’s short program. The score is a new personal best.
“I’m very happy with that score,” Chen said after his performance. “I have not gotten this high in a competition before so I’m thrilled. There are a lot of things that I can continue to improve on so I’m happy that I can continue getting better.”
Chen won this event in 2017 and 2018. Chen became the first U.S. man to repeat as Grand Prix Final champion in 2018.
Japan’s Yuzuru Hanyu trails by just over 10 points and is in second place, while Kevin Aymoz of France is in third place.
In the junior ladies competition, Liu thrilled the crowd with a 71.19-point short program.
"I’m very happy with how I skated,” Liu said. “I wanted to come here and do my best and so far I’ve done that. Obviously, I can always improve, but I got off to a really good start today.”
Liu is seeking to become the first U.S. junior lady to medal at the event since 2012. Her score on Thursday was an international personal best.
Russians Daria Usacheva and Kseniia Sinitsyna are second and third, respectively. Less than six points separates the six-person field.
The Grand Prix Series, now in its 25th season, consists of six international events in a cumulative point-scoring format. Each athlete is eligible to score points in up to two of the six scheduled events. The top six point-earners in each discipline qualified to compete in the event.
The entire senior competition can be seen live, commercial-free and on-demand with the Figure Skating Pass on NBC Sports Gold. Additionally, NBCSN will televise parts of the event on Friday, Saturday and Sunday. A full recap show on NBC will air on Dec. 22 from 4-6 p.m. A full television schedule is available here. The Junior Grand Prix Final can be seen live on the International Skating Union's YouTube channel.
