121 Facts About Nathan Chen

Nathan Wei Chen was born on May 5,1999 and is an American figure skater.

Nathan Chen is the 2022 Olympic champion, a three-time World champion, the 2017 Four Continents champion, a three-time Grand Prix Final champion, a ten-time Grand Prix medalist, the 2022 Olympic gold medalist in the team event, the 2018 Olympic bronze medalist in the team event, and a six-time US national champion.

Nathan Chen became the youngest skater to win a US Championship at the novice level in 2010, at age ten, a title he successfully defended the following season.

Nathan Chen, who has been referred to as one of the greatest men's figure skaters of all time by various news outlets, holds the highest winning percentage in competitions in the modern era with a more-than-three-year winning streak from 2018 to 2021.

Nathan Chen is renowned for performing some of the most technically challenging programs in the world and is acclaimed for surpassing the expected athletic standards in the sport.

Nathan Chen is known as the "Quad King" for his mastery of quadruple jumps.

Nathan Chen is the first skater to have successfully landed each of the five reverse take-off quadruple jumps in competition with a positive grade of execution.

Nathan Chen has broken world and national records, and is the current world record holder for men in the short program and combined total score, and former world record holder in the free skate under the ISU Judging System.

Nathan Chen currently holds the highest total scores of three major ISU competitions: the Olympics, the Four Continent Championships, and the Grand Prix Final.

Nathan Chen is the first Asian American man to win US, world, and Olympic titles in single skating.

When Nathan Chen won the 2018 World Championships, he became the youngest World Champion since Evgeni Plushenko.

Nathan Chen is the first and only single figure skater to win both team and singles gold medals in the same Olympic games.

Nathan Chen was included in Forbes 2020 30 under 30 Sports list.

Nathan Chen has written two books: his memoir One Jump at a Time: My Story and the children's book Wei Skates On.

Nathan Wei Chen was born in Salt Lake City, Utah, to Chinese immigrant parents Zhidong Chen, a research scientist from Guangxi, China, and Hetty Wang from Beijing.

Nathan Chen has four older siblings: Alice, Tony, Colin and Janice Chen, who worked for the Jennifer Doudna lab and co-founded Mammoth Biosciences.

Nathan Chen's mother was very involved in his skating career from the beginning, financing his skating activities, as well as the pursuits of his siblings, by working as a medical translator and cleaning houses.

Nathan Chen was more active and fearless than his siblings, whom he tried to copy.

Nathan Chen aspired to become a hockey goalkeeper after watching his older brothers play hockey, but his mother gave him figure skates.

Nathan Chen trained with Ballet West Academy for more than six years and competed at state level in gymnastics, placing first in the all-around at the Utah Boys' State Gymnastics Championships in St George in 2008.

Nathan Chen was part of an increase in the number of infant skaters following the 2002 Winter Olympics in his home town.

Nathan Chen started skating at the age of three in a beginners' class at the Salt Lake City Sports Complex, which served as a practice rink during the Olympics.

When he was seven, Nathan Chen started competing at the juvenile and intermediate levels in the US Junior Figure Skating Championships, placing 10th at the juvenile boys' level in 2007; in the same competition, he won bronze in the juvenile boys' division in 2008 and the intermediate men's silver medal in 2009.

At his first international appearance, Nathan Chen won the novice men's event at the 2012 Gardena Spring Trophy in Italy.

Nathan Chen worked with Kovar until age nine, and had begun taking lessons from Evgenia Chernyshyova, who was local to Salt Lake City and more easily accessible.

When Nathan Chen started working with jump specialist Rafael Arutyunyan when he was 10, he and his mother drove from Salt Lake City to Lake Arrowhead, California, several times a year.

At age 11 Nathan Chen told his mother he should move to further his career, and Nathan Chen and his mother relocated to Southern California.

Nathan Chen withdrew from his second event in Croatia after sustaining a lower leg injury but won the junior men's bronze medal at the 2013 US Championships.

Nathan Chen won his second US junior title with a record short-program score of 79.61 and a record cumulative score of 223.93 at the 2014 US Championships, and won bronze at the 2014 World Junior Championships a few months later.

Nathan Chen debuted as a senior in the US at the 2015 Pacific Sectional Championships, which he won, and advanced to the 2015 US Championship.

At the 2016 US Championships, Nathan Chen became the first US man to land two quadruple jumps in a short program, and the first US man to land four quadruple jumps in a free skate.

Nathan Chen finished third overall behind Adam Rippon and Max Aaron; Rippon did not attempt any quads and Aaron landed two, restarting the long-standing debate over whether artistry should trump athleticism.

Nathan Chen withdrew from the 2016 World Junior Championships and the 2016 World Championships.

In preparation for his senior international debut, Nathan Chen worked on a new short program with Marina Zoueva, while Zoueva and Oleg Epstein coached him in Canton, Michigan.

Nathan Chen opened the pre-Olympic season at the 2016 CS Finlandia Trophy, winning gold ahead of Patrick Chan.

Nathan Chen received 92.85 points for the short program, breaking Evan Lysacek's US record of 90.30.

Nathan Chen placed fourth overall and returned to California to work with Rafael Arutyunyan before the NHK Trophy, where he finished second behind Olympic champion Yuzuru Hanyu.

Nathan Chen won the free skate with a performance that included four quadruple jumps, earning a combined score of 282.85 points, coming second to Hanyu.

At the 2017 US Championships in Kansas City, Nathan Chen performed two quadruple jumps in the short program and became the first skater to land five clean quadruple jumps in a free skate.

Nathan Chen won his first senior US title with record scores of 106.39 in the short program, 212.08 in the free skate, and 318.47 overall to become the youngest champion in more than 50 years.

Nathan Chen scored 103.12 in the short program, 204.34 in the free skate, and 307.46 in combined total, exceeding 100,200, and 300 for the first time in his career, and became the youngest Four Continents men's champion in history until Kao Miura in 2023.

At the 2017 World Championships, Nathan Chen's boots had begun to fall apart, but he felt his back-up boots were too new and decided to try to repair the old ones with duct tape and hockey laces.

Nathan Chen's placement, combined with his teammate Jason Brown's seventh-place finish, ensured Team USA would be able to send three men to the 2018 Winter Olympics.

Nathan Chen ended the season at the 2017 World Team Trophy, where he finished second in the short program and fourth in the free skate.

At 2017 Skate America, Nathan Chen secured his second title, finishing ahead of teammate Adam Rippon.

Nathan Chen became the first US man to win the final since Evan Lysacek in 2009.

At the 2018 Winter Olympics in Pyeongchang, South Korea, Nathan Chen performed his short program in the team event poorly and placed fourth, but won bronze alongside his teammates.

Nathan Chen placed first in the free skate with a new personal best score of 215.08, and became the first skater to land six quads in a free skate, and finished fifth overall.

Nathan Chen caught influenza and withdrew early from the gala to avoid infecting other athletes.

Nathan Chen became the first US man to win the World Championships since Evan Lysacek in 2009 and the youngest world champion since Evgeni Plushenko in 2001.

Nathan Chen finished fourth in the free skate and Team North America finished third overall.

At 2018 Skate America, Nathan Chen skated to "Caravan" by Fanfare Ciocarlia in his short program and to "Land of All" by Woodkid during his free skate.

Nathan Chen won both segments and defended his title, winning by the largest point margin in the competition's history.

At the 2018 Internationaux de France, Nathan Chen fell on his quadruple flip in the short program and entered the free skate in third place behind Jason Brown.

Nathan Chen recovered and won the event with a total score of 271.58.

At the 2019 US Championships in Detroit, Nathan Chen received a record score of 113.42 for a two-quad short program and a record score of 228.80 for a four-quad free skate, ending with a record combined score of 342.22 points.

Nathan Chen won the championship by 22.45 points over Yuzuru Hanyu, becoming the first US man to win back-to-back world titles since Scott Hamilton.

Nathan Chen traveled back to Japan to conclude his season at the 2019 World Team Trophy, where he won both segments; Team USA placed first.

Nathan Chen went on to defend his title at 2019 Skate America in Las Vegas, becoming the first person to win Skate America three times consecutively since Todd Eldredge, who won four times from 1994 to 1997.

Two weeks later, Nathan Chen won his second consecutive Internationaux de France title in Grenoble.

Nathan Chen became the first singles skater since Evgeni Plushenko to win eight consecutive Grand Prix events.

Nathan Chen had a clean short program and a new personal-best score of 110.38,0.15 short of Hanyu's world record at the time.

Nathan Chen went on to set new highest scores of 224.92 in the free skate and 335.30 in the combined total, breaking his own world records in both segments, winning the title with 43.87 points over Hanyu.

Nathan Chen was assigned to compete at the World Championships in Montreal but the event was canceled as a result of the COVID-19 pandemic.

At the 2021 World Championships in Stockholm, Nathan Chen placed third after the short program, in which he fell on his quadruple Lutz, with a score of 98.85.

Nathan Chen skated a clean free skate with five quads and finished first with a score of 222.03.

Nathan Chen won his third consecutive world title with a cumulative score of 320.88, and became the first man since Patrick Chan and the first American since Scott Hamilton to win three world titles in a row.

Nathan Chen began the Olympic season at 2021 Skate America, where he placed fourth in the short program.

Nathan Chen fell on his first quadruple jump and a poor landing on the second quadruple jump left him unable to execute the required two-jump combination.

Nathan Chen placed second in the free skate despite doubling two of his six planned quads, finishing in third place overall behind Vincent Zhou and Shoma Uno.

Nathan Chen recovered a week later at 2021 Skate Canada International, where he won both segments to win the competition with a 47.63-point margin over silver medalist Jason Brown.

Nathan Chen scored 115.39, a new national record, in the short program, and 212.62 in the free skate for a combined total score of 328.01.

Nathan Chen skated clean and placed first with a new personal best of 111.71, securing ten points for Team USA.

Nathan Chen said, "[I]t feels great to have a short program I actually skated well, at an Olympic experience".

Two days after the team event, Nathan Chen set a world record in the men's short program with a score of 113.97, breaking the previous record of 111.82 set by Yuzuru Hanyu in 2020.

Nathan Chen won an Olympic gold with a free skate score of 218.63 that included five quads, finishing with a combined total score of 332.60.

Nathan Chen started performing in ice shows from an early age and at five years old, he made appearances in televised shows such as "Holiday On Ice: Las Vegas Style", and at seven years old in "Supermen On Ice".

In June 2019, Nathan Chen was cast in Yuna Kim's show All That Skate, which took place at the Olympic Park KSPO Dome in Seoul, South Korea, and was directed by Canadian choreographers Sandra Bezic and David Wilson.

Nathan Chen headlined the annual "Ice Spectacular" at the Vail Skating Festival in Colorado in December 2022, and Skating Club of Boston's Ice Chips in April 2023.

Nathan Chen returned to Vail for the "Ice Spectacular" in December 2023.

Nathan Chen participated in the tribute show "Legacy on Ice" on March 2,2025, benefitting victims of the Potomac River mid-air collision.

Nathan Chen taught at seminars in Seattle and Detroit in June 2024 and in Baltimore in February 2025 alongside Jean-Luc Baker and Sam Chouinard via their entrepreneurial enterprise "Your True Step" that Baker and Nathan Chen created to help other skaters.

From a musical perspective, Nathan Chen has progressed with senior programs set to a variety of music such as classical pieces Le Corsaire and the Polovtsian Dances, works by Igor Stravinsky, tracks from melancholy contemporary artists like Woodkid and Philip Glass, upbeat pop songs by Elton John, and contemporary Latin music.

When Nathan Chen learned this technique from his childhood coach and former Mishin student Karel Kovar, he trained in "Mishin's Magic Vest", which has sensors that emit beeping sounds when the skater achieves the correct arm position.

Nathan Chen was featured on cornflakes boxes from Kellogg's, in Nike and Coca-Cola ads on billboards in New York City, and inspired a United Airlines Olympic athlete super hero action figure.

Nathan Chen starred in crossover television commercials for the 2022 film Jurassic World: Dominion with fellow Olympians Shaun White and Mikaela Shiffrin, and promotional pieces and content for other sponsors.

Nathan Chen is a brand ambassador for Panasonic and fronted their "Green Impact" initiative with tennis player Naomi Osaka and Olympic swimmer Michael Phelps.

Nathan Chen engaged Chen, Osaka, and Phelps for its sustainability mission, and Chen made appearances for Panasonic at the annual technology conference CES 2023 in Las Vegas.

Nathan Chen contributed to a sleep study for Airweave that was overseen by Emmanuel Mignot, a sleep scientist and professor at Stanford University, and he spoke at the 2023 Nikkei Sleep Conference in Tokyo.

In 2019, Nathan Chen partnered with Boosted Boards, a manufacturer of electric skateboards and scooters.

Nathan Chen was part of luxury jewelry designer David Yurman's social-media campaign "My New York" in 2021, and collaborated with Yurman to create an exclusive bracelet benefiting AAPI non-profit collective Gold House.

In January 2023, Nathan Chen was announced as one of the celebrity guests on the fifth season of the Apple podcast Time to Walk on the company's exercise tracking app Apple Fitness Plus; the podcast mixes music and inspirational monologues from musicians, athletes, and actors.

On social media, Nathan Chen promoted Uniqlo's Heattech collection, products from Ultraslide, and ramen from Japanese food and beverage company Maruchan.

Nathan Chen has been represented by Yuki Saegusa at IMG since the beginning of his senior career.

In July 2024, Salt Lake City was officially elected as host of the 2034 Winter Olympics and Paralympics, and in February 2025, Nathan Chen was selected to serve on the steering committee for the 2034 Olympics and Paralympics.

Nathan Chen was announced as Goodwill Ambassador for the Lake Placid 2023 FISU World University Games, commonly known as Lake Placid 2023 and spearheaded Panasonic's "Green Impact" campaign at the International University Sports Federation's World Conference that was held in conjunction with the games.

In February 2023, HarperCollins released Nathan Chen's first children's book Wei Skates On, which is a picture book about feeling nervous and reframing negative thinking, with illustrations by Lorraine Nam.

Nathan Chen has appeared in fashion and news magazines such as Vogue, GQ, Harper's Bazaar, Time, Teen Vogue, Elle, Cosmopolitan, Glamour, and Spur Magazine, and has been featured on the covers of World Figure Skating Magazine and International Figure Skating Magazine.

Nathan Chen starred in three episodes of the Elton-John-produced show From the Top: Olympians and Rockstars with singer-songwriter Hayley Kiyoko on the Olympic Channel in 2021, which paired Olympic athletes with music stars.

The collaboration between the duo can be traced back to 2019 when Nathan Chen first selected John's songs from the Oscar-winning motion picture Rocketman for his free skate.

In March 2023, Nathan Chen attended the Elton John AIDS Foundation's 31st annual Academy Awards party in West Hollywood, California.

In July 2022, Nathan Chen made an appearance as a creator on the American dance-competition NBC television series Dancing With Myself, in which a creator demonstrates a series of dance moves each contestant must then perform.

Nathan Chen reunited with all four of his siblings to compete on the Steve Harvey-hosted game show Celebrity Family Feud against Marvel's Shang-Chi actor Simu Liu's team.

Nathan Chen has appeared on American television talk shows such as Today, The Late Late Show with James Corden, The Tonight Show Starring Jimmy Fallon, Watch What Happens Live with Andy Cohen, and Access Hollywood.

Nathan Chen has worked with StandUp for Kids, a national non-profit program that works to end youth homelessness and has a branch in Orange County, California, near Nathan Chen's training base.

Nathan Chen provided an opportunity for children to skate with him at Great Park Ice in 2021.

Nathan Chen is an investor in the nonprofit collective Gold House, which promotes the interests and safety of people of Asian and Pacific Islander descent.

Nathan Chen was part of a delegation when Gold House rang the opening bell at the Nasdaq Stock Exchange on May 2,2023.

Nathan Chen spoke against violence against Asian Americans in 2021, calling it "unacceptable".

In early 2022, Nathan Chen partnered with the United States Department of Health and Human Services to aid in their public education initiative "We Can Do This", a campaign to promote COVID-19 vaccines, and he spoke to immunologist and former National Institute of Allergy and Infectious Diseases director Anthony Fauci.

Nathan Chen had been open about his anxiety before traveling to the 2021 World Championships in Stockholm during the pandemic.

In 2023, Nathan Chen joined the Elton John AIDS Foundation's social-media awareness campaign called InnerElton, an initiative protesting against LGBTQIA+ stigma and championing equality, health equity, and love.

Nathan Chen has received numerous accolades for his achievements, and impact on figure skating and the Asian American community.

Nathan Chen is a Gold House A100 Honoree and has been inducted into the Gold House A100 Hall of Fame.

Nathan Chen attended Gold House's 2024 Gold Gala in Los Angeles in May 2024.

On January 26,2023, US President Joe Biden acknowledged Nathan Chen during a speech at the White House, where Nathan Chen was a guest at the President and First Lady Jill Biden's Lunar New Year reception.

Nathan Chen attended Hawthorne Elementary School in Salt Lake City; he was accepted into the school district's extended learning program, in which he took classes one level above his grade.

Nathan Chen later attended West High School in Salt Lake City and Rim of the World High School in Lake Arrowhead, California, and graduated from high school at California Connections Academy.

Nathan Chen was admitted to Yale University in 2018 and enrolled at Jonathan Edwards College.

Nathan Chen is currently enrolled in a one-year post-baccalaureate pre-medical program at Goucher College to bridge the gap between his data science education and medicine and to prepare him for medical school admission.

Nathan Chen is serving as an Ambassador for Public Outreach for the American Junior Investigators Association, an initiative established in 2024 to advocate for physician-scientists in the early stages of their careers.