Nathan Chen won the free skate, scoring a personal best 215.08 to give him 297.35 overall points and a fifth place finish in his first Olympic Games. Chen began the day in 17th place after a tough short program on Friday.
"I think honestly putting down a rough short program and being so low in the placement just took the pressure away from me,” Chen said. “I no longer felt like I was striving for that first-place spot. It mostly was just me being out on the ice and enjoying myself, playing to the crowd and really soaking in the Olympic experience."
Chen is the first person to land five clean quad jumps in an Olympic Games.
Vincent Zhou jumped from 12th place to sixth after a 192.16-point free skate. He scored 276.69 overall points. Both were personal best scores.
“This is the way I’ve been training. I’ve been training clean longs. So this is what I expected of myself, to commit to everything, to put out two good performances.”
Rippon also placed tenth, scoring 259.36 overall points after a 171.41-point free skate.
“My skate in the team event was for my teammates. This skate in the individual event, it was for me. I’ve had a really long career with a lot of ups and downs. To come away from these Olympic Games, to skate three clean programs in the midst of what seems like a lot going on, a top 10 finish in the individual event, and a bronze medal? It’s been a dream Olympic Games for me.”
After a day off, the ice dance competition will begin with the short dance on Monday at 10 a.m. (Sunday, 8 p.m. ET).
