Nathan Chen‘s Grand Prix series debut left a mark in the record books.
The 17-year-old landed two quadruple jumps en route to a personal-best 92.85 points at Trophée de France, the highest short program score by an American under a decade-old judging system.
It broke Evan Lysacek‘s American record of 90.30 set en route to gold at the Vancouver Olympics. Chen would have scored higher if he hadn’t doubled a planned triple Axel.
Chen goes into Saturday’s free skate in Paris in second place, trailing Spanish world champion Javier Fernandez by 3.