Nathan Chen, flawed by his sky-high standards, won a fourth straight Skate America title, tying a record shared by U.S. figure skating legends and extending an undefeated Olympic cycle.
Chen prevailed by what has become a customary whopping margin — 24.05 points — after landing five quadruple jumps between two programs in his first top-level competition in nine months.
Chen hit fewer quads than usual in Saturday’s free skate, which included two significant jumping errors (doubling a planned quad Salchow and popping a triple Axel). There was still no doubt about the win.
Vincent Zhou, the 2019 World bronze medalist and, if anybody, a domestic rival, placed second, followed by Canadian Keegan Messing.