Nathan Chen is an American figure skater who won his first competition in 2003 at age 3.[1][2] He spent the beginning of his career in Salt Lake City, progressing through the lower levels of U.S. Figure Skating's developmental pipeline[3] before relocating to Southern California in 2011.[4] His first basic skills and pre-preliminary competition programs[note 1] as a young skater were set to instrumental versions of Zip-A-Dee-Doo-Dah and Three Blind Mice.[6] Chen qualified for his first U.S. Junior Figure Skating Championships in 2007 and rose through the juvenile and intermediate ranks between 2007 and 2009. A recording of his early 2007 exhibition performance to "I Just Can't Wait to Be King" from The Lion King resurfaced before the 2018 Winter Olympics.[7][8] Chen made it to his first U.S. Figure Skating Championships in 2010 where he, at 10 years old, became the youngest novice champion in history, skating to music from Kung Fu Panda and Peter and the Wolf. At the end of the championships, he was featured in NBC's coverage of the exhibition gala[9] and was later chosen as the ABC Person of the Week.[10]
During his junior years, Chen performed to music from the Godfather soundtrack, Praeludium and Allegro, The Four Seasons, Michael Jackson, Glenn Miller and George Gershwin. He won the national junior title twice (2012, 2014) and the ISU Junior Grand Prix Final in 2015. Throughout the span of his senior career, Chen explored a plethora of musical genres, performing to classical works from Le Corsaire, Mao's Last Dancer, Prince Igor, Mozart, songs from avant-garde artists like Benjamin Clementine, piano pieces from Philip Glass, and music from the Desperado soundtrack. In the 2019-20 season, Chen skated to Armenian artist Charles Aznavour's "La Bohème" and music from the Elton John biopic Rocketman. Chen later decided to return to these two programs for the 2021-22 Olympic season[11] where his win at the 2022 Winter Olympics in Beijing earned him a congratulatory shoutout from John. In November 2022, Chen starred in the official music video for the acoustic version of "Hold Me Closer" by John and Britney Spears.[12] Between his senior debut in 2016 until his gold medal win in Beijing, Chen also won six U.S. titles, three world championships, and three Grand Prix Final titles,[13][14] and broke national and world records multiple times.[15]
↑ When figure skaters perform on the ice, they are performing a program. A figure skating program consists of choreographed moves set to music.[5]
↑ The piece consists of three movements: 1. The offerings to the young king, 2. The sky falls, 3. Building the Rainbow and the Golden Comet. The young king is crowned, and his imagination transforms colors into rainbows of hope. The sky falls, and the young king sees the sadness in the world. However, he is able to capture the spirit of the golden comet that allows him to bring beauty and joy back to the world and to restore the sky. The goal of Ice Dance International is to build community through skating.[46]
↑ WIWA is an abbreviation for “Wind and Water.” Choreographer David Liu made Chen, who was 10, the star of the show. WIWA was a story about the journey of a boy who wanted to experiment with wind and water, about his fantasy of meeting different people and flying in the wind and playing with water. Chen also performed with Richard Dwyer, a well-known skater known as “Mr Debonair” because he used to always hand out roses to the women in the audience. Liu created a program for Chen and Dwyer envisioning a grandfather and grandson or older and younger generation meeting.[48]
↑ Lewis, Amber (October 11, 2011). "Review: Ice Champions Live!". Figure Skaters Online. Archived from the original on March 8, 2016. Retrieved October 26, 2023.
↑ Gina Capellazzi and Daphne Backman (January 2, 2023). "This Week in Skating/January 2, 2023". This Week In Skating (Podcast). Figure Skaters Online/IDC. Archived from the original on October 26, 2023. Retrieved October 26, 2023.
Nobunari Oda is a Japanese competitive figure skater. He is the 2006 Four Continents champion, a four-time Grand Prix Final medalist, the 2005 World Junior champion and the 2008 Japanese national champion.
Jeremy Abbott is a former American figure skater. He is the 2008 Grand Prix Final champion, a two-time Four Continents bronze medalist, and a four-time U.S. national champion. He represented the United States at the 2010 Winter Olympics, where he placed ninth, and at the 2014 Winter Olympics, winning a bronze medal in the team event.
Akiko Suzuki is a Japanese former competitive figure skater. She is the 2012 World Championships bronze medalist, a three-time Grand Prix Final medalist, a two-time Four Continents silver medalist, the 2007 Winter Universiade champion, and the 2013 Japanese national champion. She placed eighth at the 2010 and 2014 Winter Olympics.
Yuzuru Hanyu is a Japanese figure skater, ice show producer and director, author, and philanthropist. Regarded as one of the greatest figure skaters in history for his well-rounded skills, achievements, innovations, longevity, popularity, and impact on the sport, he started skating at four years old and competed in the men's singles discipline from 2004 to 2022. Hanyu is the first man in 66 years since American Dick Button to win back-to-back Olympic titles, and also the youngest and first Olympic champion from Asia in that discipline. He is a two-time World champion, a six-time Japanese national champion, and the first single skater to win four consecutive Grand Prix Finals (2014–2017). With his win at the 2020 Four Continents Championships, he became the first male single skater to complete the Super Slam, having won all major international junior and senior titles in the course of his career. Hanyu broke world records 19 times, the most in singles since the introduction of the ISU Judging System in 2003, and was the first skater to land a quadruple loop jump in international competition among other achievements.
Nathan Wei Chen is an American figure skater. He is the 2022 Olympic champion, a three-time World champion, the 2017 Four Continents champion, a three-time Grand Prix Final champion, a ten-time Grand Prix medalist, the presumptive 2022 Olympic silver medalist in the team event, the 2018 Olympic bronze medalist in the team event, and a six-time U.S. national champion (2017–22). At the junior level, Chen is the 2015–16 Junior Grand Prix Final champion, 2013–14 Junior Grand Prix Final bronze medalist, 2014 World Junior bronze medalist, and a six-time Junior Grand Prix medalist.
Keegan Messing is a Canadian-American retired figure skater. Representing Canada, he has competed at two Winter Olympic Games in 2018 and 2022. He has also appeared at three World Championships, placing as high as sixth. He is the 2023 Four Continents silver medalist, 2021 CS Golden Spin of Zagreb champion, a two-time Nebelhorn Trophy champion, and a two-time Grand Prix medalist. At the national level, he is a two time Canadian national champion.
Jason Lawrence Brown is an American figure skater. He is a nine-time Grand Prix medalist, a two-time Four Continents medalist, and the 2015 U.S. national champion. Earlier in his career, he became a two-time World Junior medalist, the 2011 Junior Grand Prix Final champion, and the 2010 junior national champion.
Satoko Miyahara is a retired Japanese figure skater. She is the 2015 World silver medalist, the 2018 World bronze medalist, the 2016 Four Continents champion, a two-time Four Continents silver medalist, a two-time Grand Prix Final silver medalist, a two-time Skate America champion, the 2015 NHK Trophy champion, a four-time CS U.S. Classic champion, the 2014 CS Lombardia Trophy champion, and a four-time Japanese national champion (2014–17).
Shoma Uno is a Japanese figure skater. He is a three-time Olympic medalist, a two-time World champion and a two-time World silver medalist, the 2019 Four Continents champion, the 2022–23 Grand Prix Final champion, a fourteen-time Grand Prix medalist, the 2017 Asian Winter Games champion, and a six-time Japanese national champion. At the junior level, Uno is the 2015 World Junior champion, the 2014–15 Junior Grand Prix Final champion, and 2012 Youth Olympic silver medalist.
Karen Chen is an American figure skater. She is a 2022 Olympic Games team event gold medalist, two-time CS U.S. Classic bronze medalist, the 2015 CS Golden Spin of Zagreb bronze medalist, the 2017 U.S. national champion, 2022 U.S. national silver medalist, and a three-time U.S. national bronze medalist. She is currently a student at Cornell University.
Vincent Zhou is an American figure skater. He is a 2022 Olympic Games team event gold medalist, a two-time World bronze medalist, the 2019 Four Continents bronze medalist, the 2021 CS Nebelhorn Trophy champion, the 2021 Skate America champion, the 2018 CS Tallinn Trophy silver medalist, the 2017 CS Finlandia Trophy silver medalist, and a three-time U.S. national silver medalist.
Wakaba Higuchi is a Japanese figure skater. She is the 2018 World silver medalist and a five-time Japanese national medalist. On the junior level, she is a two-time World Junior bronze medalist, the 2014–15 Junior Grand Prix Final bronze medalist, and a two-time Japan Junior national champion. She won a bronze medal in team event, representing Japan at the 2022 Winter Olympics.
Yuma Kagiyama is a Japanese figure skater. He is the 2022 Olympic silver medalist, a two-time World silver medalist, the 2024 Four Continents Champion, the 2023–24 ISU Grand Prix Final bronze medalist, the 2020 Four Continents bronze medalist, a five-time Grand Prix medalist, a two-time ISU Challenger Series medalist, an Olympic bronze medalist in the team event (2022), and a four-time Japanese national medalist. At the junior level, Kagiyama is the 2020 Youth Olympic champion, the 2020 World Junior silver medalist, and the 2019–20 Japan Junior national champion.
Yuzuru Hanyu, a former competitive figure skater from Japan, participated in the Winter Olympic Games three times, winning two gold medals and placing fourth in 2022. In 2014, he became the first Asian men's singles skater to win at the Olympics. At 19 years old, he was also the youngest male skater to win the Olympic title since American Dick Button in 1948. In 2018, Hanyu became the first male single skater in 66 years to win two consecutive Olympic gold medals since Button in 1952.
Fantasy on Ice (ファンタジー・オン・アイス) is an annual touring ice show in Japan produced by CIC Co., Ltd. The show emerged from the "Philippe Candeloro Japan Tour 2001", named after retired French figure skater Philippe Candeloro, and was held under the name "Fantasy on Ice" the following two years. After a seven-year break, the tour was revived in 2010 and got expanded to larger venues in the metropolitan area of Tokyo in 2014 and Kobe in 2015.
The Ice (ザ・アイス) is an annual touring ice show in Japan held over the summer at the end of July and early August with a cast of national top skaters from Japan and around the world. The show includes a variety of group numbers, collaborations between top singles skaters, and dance battles.
Dreams on Ice (ドリーム・オン・アイス) is an annual ice show produced by CIC Co., Ltd. It takes place at KOSÉ Shin-Yokohama Skate Center at the end of June and early July at the conclusion of the figure skating season, featuring a cast of Japanese senior and junior skaters with international skaters from overseas. Dreams on Ice is different from other shows due to the Japanese Skating Federation's involvement in the selection of national skaters, and international skaters are only invited as guests.
This page is based on this Wikipedia article Text is available under the CC BY-SA 4.0 license; additional terms may apply. Images, videos and audio are available under their respective licenses.
