Twenty-two-year-old Chen managed a free ride with five square jumps and increased his lead after a short program to more than 22 points, although Kagiyama and Un also beat each other. Despite the almost six-point lead from the short program, the favored American could not afford significant hesitation. From the beginning with a square flip and a combination of a square flip with a triple toeloop, he showed that he was on the right track. During the lutz as his fourth square jump, he timed the reflection directly into the musical accent of Elton John’s entourage.
He kept his concentration until the end and won the highest mark of the Olympic competition for free riding. He thus achieved the goal he had been striving for since the failed Olympic Games in Pyongyang. He was also a favorite at the time, but he ruined the short program and then only finished in fifth place. Since then, he has won all three world championships that have taken place. He interrupted his studies at Yale University so that he could fully concentrate on figure skating and success at the Beijing Games.
He became the first American Olympic figure skating winner by Evan Lysacek in Vancouver 2010 to win without a four-time jump. Men’s figure skating has since moved completely differently. “It means the whole world to me, I’m just terribly happy,” he confided. In his life, he received a mark for more than six points higher than today’s 218.63 points. “Of course, there are definitely a lot of things I could have done better, but overall I’m very happy that I was able to show the program the way I did,” Chen added.
Eighteen-year-old Kagiyama jumped four four-jump jumps and, as the very last jump in free riding, included an equally difficult triple axel. After last year’s silver medal from the World Cup, he also rejoiced in second place under five rings. He could immediately share his feelings with his father Masazaku, who started at the 1992 and 1994 Olympic Games and trains his son. Uno finished third, who, like Chen, tried five square jumps. But he fell during the flip.
Even the most experienced Japanese Hanju, who lost in a short program after jumping through Salchow, acted bravely. He included an unprecedented square axel, but the unturned jump did not stop, and then he fell at the square salchow. Nevertheless, he had the third highest mark for free riding, but he was almost ten points apart from the medal.
Michal Březina, who did not advance to the free races after 25th place in the short program, followed the path to the Olympic gold of his training colleague Chen from the auditorium. The figure skating program will continue on Saturday with rhythmic dances with the participation of the Czechs Natálie and Filip Taschler.
