Johnny Weir and Tara Lipinski break down the women’s team at 2022 Olympics

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U.S. Figure Skating Championships Day 4 recap: Nathan Chen rockets to sixth national title, Malinin a surprise second

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In the evening’s final performance, rocketman Nathan Chen laughed off a fall – but still delivered an out-of-this-world showing set to an Elton John medley.

His free skate earned him 212.62 points for a 328.01 total – and a sixth straight U.S. Championships title.

Chen is now the second man in 70 years to win six national titles, joining Todd Eldredge.

“This was a really fun Championships, the crowd was amazing,” Chen said after his victory. “It’s always great to be at a Championships with people and support – this was a great time.”

“For Nathan, the ‘limit’ doesn’t exist,” commentator Tara Lipinski said during the NBC broadcast.

“It’s getting hard to come up with superlatives to describe Nathan Chen,” commentator Johnny Weir added.

SEE MORE: U.S. Championships: Chen breaks short record with 115.39 pts

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Virginia’s 17-year-old Ilia Malinin surprised in second with 302.48 points. Vincent Zhou struggled on the ice, but barely edged out Jason Brown for third with a 290.16-point total.

Malinin entered the free skate in third place, following an unexpected – and excellent – short program that earned 103.46 points. His was the penultimate skate on Sunday, and followed surprisingly poor showings by Zhou and Brown.

Simply put, Malinin blew everyone not named Nathan Chen out of the water with a fast, near-flawless performance: “He will be the face for U.S. men’s skating in 2026,” Lipinski said, describing him as “the quad prince.” Malinin had nothing to lose, and gained everything – including, most likely, one of three available Olympic berths.

SEE MORE: U.S. Championships: Breakout star Ilia Malinin talks second

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The free skate competition certainly didn’t follow expectations. Zhou, skating to a medley by Tan Dun and Kiyoshi Yoshida, arrived strong in second following his 112.78-point short program. However, he suffered a few messy falls and slips during his highly technical routine. Zhou’s numerous errors, including several under rotations, lacked the usual magic that the athlete often displays. Zhou scored only 177.38 points for his free skate, scraping past Brown’s fourth-place 289.78 total.

SEE MORE: U.S. Championships: Zhou scores 112.78 for second in short

Jason Brown, in fourth place following Saturday’s short program, was the first real medal contender to take to the ice. Brown endured almost comically bad luck during his serpentine trip to the Championships, involving multiple plane delays and a long car trip. He was hit with more awful news prior to competition: Coach Tracy Wilson tested positive for COVID, and wouldn’t be able to attend the free skate.

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Performing his first jump, a quad Salchow, Brown took a nasty spill. He quickly recovered and completed his highly artistic (yet technically lacking) routine without any major further errors, but ended in tears.

We’ll soon see whether those tears were warranted, as a U.S. Figure Skating committee determines which athletes will claim the three men’s singles Olympic berths – taking into account other recent tournament scores and results.

U.S. Figure Skating will make the official announcement regarding the men’s team at 6:45pm ET. Check NBCOlympics.com for updates.

UPDATE: Chen, Zhou, and Brown were selected for men’s Olympic team. Read more here.

Olympics Figure Skaters Where Are They Now: Nancy Kerrigan, Michelle Kwan

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Olympic moments: The five-time world champion and nine-time U.S. champion earned silver in 1998 and bronze in 2002. Though she qualified for the 1994 Olympics, her place ultimately went to Nancy Kerrigan, who was unable to compete in the trials after being attacked by an associate of rival Tonya Harding. Kwan instead served as an alternate that year.

In 2006, she worked her way through injuries to be named to the team once again, but withdrew after suffering another injury after arriving in Turin, Italy.

Today: Kwan retired from figure skating in 2006 and earned her master’s degree in international relations. She served as a U.S. State Department adviser and on Hillary Clinton’s 2016 campaign staff, and was recently nominated by President Joe Biden to be the U.S. ambassador to Belize.

In 2013, Kwan wed former White House security strategist Clay Pell, though the two divorced in 2017. But she had happy news to share at the start of the new year: the arrival of her first child, a girl named Kalista.

Kamila Valieva’s “Otherworldly” Figure Skating Short Program Set Another Record

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Kamila Valieva, the Russian national champion and favorite for the Beijing Olympic podium, scored a world-record-setting 90.45 for her 2022 ISU European Figure Skating Championships short program. In fact, the 15-year-old bested her own short-program record of 87.42, which she’d previously set in November at the 2021 Rostelecom Cup. This also means that Valieva is the first woman to break 90 points under the current scoring system, according to NBC Sports.

Valieva’s short program, seen in full above, was spectacular then, and it’s spectacular now. Set to Kirill Richter’s “In Memoriam,” it’s reportedly dedicated to her late grandmother. Valieva effortlessly glides along the ice with choreography that’s polished, poised, and powerful. Speaking of powerful, she executes her jumps — such as the triple axel, triple flip, and triple lutz and triple toe loop combo — with precision, lifting her arms above her head to make them that much more difficult.

As NBC’s Terry Gannon said in the live broadcast on Jan. 13, “Perfection may not exist, but it’s approached every time Kamila Valieva takes the ice.” Olympian and fellow commentator Tara Lipinski called Valieva “otherworldly,” and we 100 percent agree!

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