100 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, a 2022 Olympic silver medalist in the team event, a 2018 Olympic bronze medalist in the team event and a six-time US national champion.

Nathan Chen is the first skater to have landed all types of quadruple jumps except for the quadruple axle in competition.

Nathan Chen has broken world and national records multiple times and is the current world record holder for men in all three competition segments; the short program, free skate and combined total score under the ISU Judging System.

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 was included in Forbes' 2020 30 under 30 Sports list.

Nathan Chen has authored 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 originating from the Guangxi region in China, and Hetty Wang from Beijing.

Nathan Chen has four older siblings named Alice, Tony, Colin and Janice Chen, formerly of the Jennifer Doudna lab and co-founder of Mammoth Biosciences.

Nathan Chen's mother was very involved in his skating career from the beginning and financed his skating endeavors as well as the pursuits of his older brothers and sisters by working as a medical translator and cleaning houses.

Nathan Chen was a bit more active and fearless, always trying to copy his siblings, and originally dreamed of being a hockey goalie after watching his older brothers play hockey, but his mother gave him figure skates instead.

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

Nathan Chen was an accomplished pianist as a child, winning local competitions in his age group, and more recently picked up the guitar as an extracurricular activity.

Nathan Chen is from "a huge chess family": his siblings competed in chess tournaments as kids, but he says he is on the bottom of the Chen family chess rankings.

Nathan Chen was part of a baby skater boom following the 2002 Winter Olympics in his home town.

Nathan Chen started skating in a pair of his sister's white skates at age 3 in his first coach Stephanee Grosscup's beginner class at a new rink in the Salt Lake City Sports Complex, which served as a practice rink during the Olympics.

Nathan Chen entered his first figure skating competition in 2003.

Nathan Chen started competing at the US Junior Figure Skating Championships at the juvenile and intermediate levels at from age seven.

Nathan Chen placed 10th at the juvenile boys' level in 2007, won bronze in the juvenile boys' division in 2008, and intermediate men's silver medal in 2009.

Nathan Chen had started working with former Czechoslovakian skater Karel Kovar in Ogden.

Kovar used to train with renowned Russian figure skating coach Alexei Mishin and taught Nathan Chen to pull his arms across his torso in a "seat belt" position when he rotated, a position Nathan Chen still uses to this day.

Nathan Chen worked with Kovar until age 9, and had begun taking lessons from Genya Chernyshova who was local to Salt Lake City and more easily accessible.

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

Nathan Chen withdrew from his second event in Croatia after sustaining a lower leg injury but went on to win 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 domestically by winning the 2015 Pacific Sectional Championships, and advanced to the 2015 US Championship.

Nathan Chen finished third overall behind Adam Rippon and Max Aaron, the former not attempting any quads and the latter landing two.

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

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

Nathan Chen ended up fourth overall and returned to California to work with 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 total combined score of 282.85 points; enough for silver behind Hanyu.

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

Nathan Chen won his first senior US title with record scores to become the youngest champion in more than 5 decades.

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

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

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

Nathan Chen landed his first quad loop in the free to become the first skater in history to land five different quads in competition.

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

At the 2018 US Championships serving as trials for the Olympics, Nathan Chen performed a total of seven clean quadruple jumps to win his second consecutive national title.

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

Nathan Chen contracted the flu, and withdrew from the gala early to avoid infecting other athletes.

Nathan Chen became the first skater in history to land eight quadruple jumps across a single competition; two in the short program and six in the free skate.

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

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.

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

Nathan Chen bounced back 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, totaling 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 2019 World Team Trophy, where he won both segments with Team USA placing first.

Nathan Chen opened his season by winning the free skate in the men's event at the Japan Open, contributing to Team North America's bronze medal finish.

Nathan Chen went on to defend his title at 2019 Skate America in Las Vegas, which was the first time anyone had won Skate America three times consecutively since Todd Eldredge won four.

Two weeks later, Nathan Chen won his second straight Internationaux de France title in Grenoble and became the first singles skater since Evgeni Plushenko nearly two decades earlier to win eight straight Grand Prix events.

Nathan Chen had a clean short program with 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 the two segments respectively, 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.

Nathan Chen won both the short program and the free skate, with a total score of 299.15, despite popping two planned jumps in the free skate.

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

Nathan Chen skated a clean free program 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 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.

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

Nathan Chen won 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 made appearances in televised shows such as Holiday On Ice: Las Vegas Style at age 5 in 2004 as well as "Supermen On Ice" at age 7 in 2006.

Nathan Chen has been performing in the annual Sun Valley summer shows in Idaho since he was a young boy, and made several appearances in Harvard's "An Evening with Champions" throughout the years.

In early 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.

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

In June 2022, Nathan Chen taught at a seminar in Mexico alongside Mariah Bell and Katarina Kulgeyko, and was scheduled to join Javier Fernandez's annual summer camp in Spain in August 2023 with Brian Orser, Tracey Wilson, and Florent Amodio.

Nathan Chen has been commended for his technical prowess and impact on the sport.

When Nathan Chen learnt this technique from his childhood coach and former Mishin student Karel Kovar, he used to train in "Mishin's Magic Vest", a specially designed vest with sensors emitting beeping sounds when the skater achieves the correct arm position.

Nathan Chen appeared in crossover TV adverts for the 2022 theatrical film Jurassic World: Dominion with fellow Olympians Shaun White and Mikaela Shiffrin in addition to promotional pieces and content for other sponsors.

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

Nathan Chen enlisted the three celebrity athletes for its sustainability mission, and Chen made appearances for Panasonic at CES 2023 in Las Vegas, an annual tech conference organized by the Consumer Technology Association.

In January 2023, Nathan Chen was announced as one of the celebrity guests on the fifth season of Time to Walk on Apple Fitness Plus which is an audio walking experience produced by Apple that pairs music and inspirational monologues from famous musicians, athletes, and actors with exercise tracking.

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

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 social emotional picture book, with illustrations by Lorraine Nam, about feeling nervous and reframing negative thinking.

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

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

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

Nathan Chen was featured in an episode of Secret Celebrity Renovation on CBS in August 2022, a show that gives celebrities the opportunity to gift a renovation to a person who helped guide them to success.

For Nathan Chen, who has long acknowledged the many people who have helped him along the way, that meant gifting the Salt Lake City Sports Complex, that houses the rink where he took his first steps on the ice as a toddler, a new skater's lounge and dressing room.

Nathan Chen went on to reunite 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 made appearances on a variety of daytime television shows and late night talk shows such as the Today Show, The Late Late Show with James Corden, The Tonight Show Starring Jimmy Fallon, and Access Hollywood.

Nathan Chen worked with StandUp for Kids, a national non-profit program that strives to end youth homelessness.

Nathan Chen is an investor in the nonprofit collective Gold House that advances the interests and safety of people of Asian and Pacific Islander descent and was part of the delegation when Gold House rang the opening bell at the Nasdaq Stock Exchange on May 2,2023.

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

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

Nathan Chen has received nominations for an ESPY Award, a People's Choice Award as well as a James E Sullivan Award, and been recognized on a variety of reputable lists, such as Time magazine's Time100 that lists the 100 most influential people in the world, the Time Next Generation Leaders List, Forbes' 30 Under 30 Sports list, and Harper's Bazaar's Icons.

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

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

Nathan Chen went to Hawthorne Elementary School in Salt Lake City and was accepted into the school district's extended learning program where he took classes one level above his grade level.

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

Nathan Chen earned admittance to Yale University in 2018 and enrolled at residential college Jonathan Edwards.

Nathan Chen is due to graduate in 2024 and plans to do a postbaccalaureate premedical program in preparation for medical school.

Nathan Chen is the current world record holder in all three segments.