NASHVILLE, Tenn. — A most unusual U.S. national figure skating championship is over, and the results are crystal clear:
Nathan Chen won. Sadly, so did COVID-19.
Chen, the 22-year-old American superstar who will be a gold-medal favorite at next month’s Beijing Winter Olympics, fell twice — one of them on footwork, a “silly mistake,” he said — but landed four quadruple jumps in Sunday’s long program to easily win his sixth consecutive national title, the most in U.S. men’s skating since the legendary Dick Button’s seven consecutive titles back in the 1940s and early 1950s.