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| US. FIGURE SKATING
NNATHAN CHEN
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By Louis Chan
ASAM NEWS
Nathan Chen is so dominating his sport the commentators are running out of superlatives to describe it.
The Utah native scored 342 points to dominate the U.S. Figure Skating Championships winning his third straight U.S. Championship.
“All hail Nathan, the great. He took me to another world, said Johnny Weir, the last U.S. skater to win three straight championships. “There is a dreamy quality to the music selection. He’s taken skating to an entirely new world.”
Tara Lipinsky, who won Olympic gold in 1998, went over-the-top in her praise.
“He is a god. He is not human,” she proclaimed. “This is it, guys. This is what skating is about. He’s pushing the boundaries."
Chen so dominated with his multiple quad jumps that the only suspense going into Sunday’s free skate was which skater would take second place -- Vincent Zhou of San Jose or Jason Brown of Los Angeles. Brown held a narrow lead over Zhou after the short program. In the end, Zhou finished second, about 58 points behind Chen after Brown fell while attempting a quad in the long program.
“I’m so happy right now,” Chen said about his victory. “That program went exactly as I wanted it to.”
Chen will skip next month's Four Continents Championship in California in order to concentrate on his Yale studies. Although he is a heavy favorite going into the Worlds March 18-24 in Japan, Chen isn’t taking anything for granted.
“Worlds is a whole another ballgame,” he cautioned.
After the competition, the top three men, Chen, Zhou and Brown were chosen to represent the U.S. at the World's Championship. Waiting in the wings if any of thte top three could not compete is the No. 1 alternate, Tomoki Hiwatashi.
Views From the Edge contributed to this report.
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