Lessons from figure skating team event: Quads rain, and Valieva makes a splash with hers

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Lessons from figure skating team event: Quads rain, and Valieva makes a splash with hers

This is what we learned from the 2022 Olympic team event that ended Monday with the result everyone expected, as the Russian Olympic Committee took gold, the U.S. silver and Japan bronze:

MEN’S SINGLES HAS POTENTIAL FOUR-WAY BATTLE FOR TITLE

Either Nathan Chen of the United States, who won the team short program, or Yuzuru Hanyu of Japan, who did not compete, still is likely to win gold.

But Shoma Uno (second in the team short) and Yuma Kagiyama (first in the free) of Japan both skated so well they could take full advantage if Chen and Hanyu make mistakes.

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An extraordinary Kamila Valieva stood alone in her sport again

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An extraordinary Kamila Valieva stood alone in her sport again

There are moments in watching sports when you know you were seeing the extraordinary, when what you saw needed no further enhancement, nothing to reaffirm the accuracy of your impression.

And yet, those moments are enriched when they occur before thousands of eyewitnesses, all ready to express their awestruck appreciation for the athlete who created them.

So it was a shame that there could not have been a packed house at the Capital Indoor Stadium to give Russian Kamila Valieva the loud and immediate tribute she deserved for one of the most stunning performances in Olympic figure skating history.

It was enough to make those in the global audience watching from a distance want to stand and applaud in front of the television or laptop or mobile phone that conveyed the images of this 15-year-old living up to a standard (again) she has set and that only she can reach.

Valieva expressed pleasure, according to Russian media, at seeing the standing ovation from the U.S. athletes in their team box. Her fellow skaters understand better than anyone Valieva's remarkable short program.

It is not only that Valieva lands extraordinarily difficult jumps, but also the way she executes them, with striking extension of arms and legs and the flow that follows her landings. It is not only that she is in utter command while flying across the ice but the way she lets go to express herself while doing it.

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With a likely Olympic team medal, Karen Chen can fill another gap in her career record

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With a likely Olympic team medal, Karen Chen can fill another gap in her career record

Karen Chen was talking before the U.S. Figure Skating Championships about filling a blank on her résumé.

“I told myself, `Karen, you don’t have a nationals silver medal yet,’” Chen said.

Coincidentally – and you will see the coincidence a few paragraphs from now – Chen noted that in answer to a question on a different topic.

It was the question of whether she hoped her performance at nationals would be good enough to earn her a spot in the Olympic team event. Chen did not get that opportunity at her first Olympics in 2018.

There was an element of not counting chickens in Chen’s response, of being more concerned about first assuring the place on the 2022 Olympic team.

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Nathan Chen makes a statement with commanding short program in Olympic team event

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Nathan Chen makes a statement with commanding short program in Olympic team event

Nathan Chen’s short program to the Charles Aznavour song “La Boheme” includes a passage with an expressive emotional release, his mouth clenched into a grimace, his eyes afire with the passion and longing of the artist the lyrics describe.

The emotion in that choreographed expression during the team event short program Friday morning at the 2022 Winter Olympics also spoke of a different release than the one Chen needed simply to inhabit the role he was interpreting.

Chen seemed to be letting go of all the frustration and disappointment that had followed his stunningly poor performances in the team event and individual event short programs during his Olympic debut four years ago.

“It feels good to have a short program that I actually skated well in an Olympic experience,” Chen said.

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In pushing each other, Hanyu and Chen have redefined the meaning of figure skating greatness

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In pushing each other, Hanyu and Chen have redefined the meaning of figure skating greatness

The figure skating rivalry between Nathan Chen of the United States and Yuzuru Hanyu of Japan is enduring, but sporadic. Compelling, but infrequent.

Hanyu is the two-time reigning Olympic gold medalist. Chen has won the last three world titles. But they have met in the same individual competition just nine times over six seasons.

And that only makes the rivalry more compelling. Absence makes the heat grow stronger.

Never will it be more intense than next Monday, when Hanyu and Chen begin skating for the men’s singles title at the 2022 Winter Olympics.

What happens next week can only embellish Hanyu’s legacy. By becoming in 2018 the first man to win consecutive Olympic gold medals in singles since Dick Button of the United States in 1952, Hanyu already became a permanent member of a pantheon open to few.

Chen, yet to win an individual Olympic medal, is seeking a career-defining singles gold. Even if he gets it, Chen understands his rival’s place in the sport’s history will remain distinct.

“He is in a completely different status than I am as a skater,” Chen told me before this season began. “I will always respect that.”

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