Nathan Chen falters, Vincent Zhou grabs hold of lead at Skate America | CBC Sports

Chen has long been known as the “quad king,” but fell on his opening quadruple lutz and botched a quad flip combo later in the program.

Instead, American Vincent Zhou was in gold-medal position going into the free skate Saturday.

Olympian Zhou had 97.43 points to easily lead the 11-man field, followed by Olympic silver medallist Shoma Uno of Japan with 89.07 and American Jimmy Ma at 84.52. Ma has never finished higher than 10th at a Grand Prix.

WATCH | Vincent Zhou takes lead in men’s short program at Skate America:

Vincent Zhou in 1st place after men’s short program at Skate America

American Vincent Zhou scored 97.43 in the short program at Skate America. 5:57

With a score of 82.89, Chen is a surmountable 1.63 points away from the podium, but upwards of 15 points from first.

Chen had a famously disastrous, in his words, short program at the 2018 Olympics. He rose from 17th to fifth with the winning free skate, showing he is capable of a comeback.

Since then, he has won every individual competition he’s entered — a whopping 14 events. Only twice in those 45 months was Chen not the leader after the short program; he was third.

Zhou is making a comeback of his own this week. The 2019 world bronze medallist was a dismal 25th at the 2021 World Championships, one spot away from even qualifying for the free skate.

He won two smaller events he entered earlier this season and is making a strong campaign for a second Olympic team. The team will be selected in January.

Canada’s Nam Nguyen placed seventh with a score of 74.32.

WATCH | Ottawa’s Nam Nguyen places 7th in short program:

Canada’s Nam Nguyen sits in 7th place after Skate America short program

Ottawa native Nam Nguyen scored 74.32 in the short program at Skate America. 5:34

ROC pairs dominate pairs short program

Earlier, two Russian Olympic Committee (ROC) pairs teams led the way Friday night at Skate America.

Evegenia Tarasova and Vladimir Morozov had the top score in the pairs short program with 80.36 points, followed by compatriots Aleksandra Boikova and Dmitriy Kozlovskiy at 75.43. Riku Miura and Ryuichi Kihara of Japan were third at 72.63.

“The most important goal of the season is the Olympic Games,” Kozlovskiy said. “Step by step, we have to move forward. This is our first step on our way.”

The top three teams kicked off the first Grand Prix event of the Olympic figure skating season with clean skates, with the exception of the final element for both ROC pairs. Tarasova put her foot down on a throw triple loop while Boikova and Kozlovskiy’s “Swan Lake” performance had a shaky throw triple flip.

WATCH | ROC’s Tarasova, Morozov lead pairs in short program at Skate America:

Tarasova, Morozov lead pairs event at Skate America

Russia’s Evgenia Tarasova and Vladimir Morozov score 80.36 in the short program at Skate America. 5:53

With reigning world champions Anastasia Mishina and Aleksandr Galliamov not assigned to Skate America, the ROC are quickly proving they are favoured to have at least one team on the Olympic podium in Beijing in 3 1/2 months.

U.S. teams placed fourth, fifth and seventh on the first day of competition. Olympian Alexa Knierim and Brandon Frazier, who teamed up last year, were within four points of the podium. They won Skate America in 2020 when it was a mostly domestic competition due to the pandemic.

Canadian pairing Evelyn Walsh and Trennt Michaud scored 54.03 to finish in eighth place.

WATCH | Canada’s Walsh, Michaud finish 8th in short program at Skate America:

Canada’s Walsh, Michaud sit in 8th place after Skate America short program

Canadian pair Evelyn Walsh and Trennt Michaud scored 54.03 in the short program at Skate America. 6:14