By Sean Miyaguchi,
His men's figure skating showdown with Yuzuru Hanyu will be one of the most anticipated contests of the Beijing Winter Olympics, but Nathan Chen says he is simply looking forward to sharing the ice again with an athlete he considers a "great inspiration."
The 22-year-old Chen spoke of his admiration for the two-time Olympic gold medalist from Japan on Friday, after top-scoring for the United States in the men's short program section of the figure skating teams competition.
"It's been a really great adventure and journey for me to have someone like him to share the ice with," said Chen, who won his third straight world championship last year in Stockholm.
"He has certainly been such a great inspiration to me, and so I'm really looking forward to seeing him."
The men's singles competition, opening Tuesday at Beijing's Capital Indoor Stadium, is predicted to be a two-way battle between the pair.
While Chen will start as the favorite, having dominated international competition in the wake of his disappointing fifth-place finish at the 2018 Olympics, Hanyu's potential addition of a quadruple axel could tip the scales in his favor.
No skater has ever landed the jump in competition, and if the 27-year-old Hanyu can pull it off, it may help him become the first male figure skater since 1928 to win three consecutive Olympic men's titles
"I'm honored to be alive at the same time as him," Chen said. "It's pretty crazy what he's doing."
Chen is leaving nothing to chance in preparation for the competition, wearing a mask in practice and having skipped the opening ceremony to minimize the risk of COVID-19 infection.
"I've been trying to do my best, trying to stay pretty self-isolated," he said. "We've all been training for four long years for this experience, so none of us want it to go away because of a (positive) test."
