Nathan Chen returns to winning ways with Skate Canada victory as Sui/Han capture pairs title

Nathan Chen is back.

It's hard to argue that the American, the reigning and three-time world figure skating champion, ever went anywhere, but a week after his three-year, 10-event win streak was snapped at Skate America the 22-year-old bounced back onto the top of the podium at Skate Canada International on Saturday (29 October) in Vancouver, Canada.

Chen completed four quadruple jumps in his Mozart-themed free skate, scoring a 200.46 for a 307.18 overall.

The U.S. went 1-2 as Chen's fellow Olympian Jason Brown recovered from an early fall on a triple Axel to place second with a 259.55, while Russia's Evgeni Semenenko was third with a 256.01.

Chen had not lost at any event since placing fifth at the Olympic Games PyeongChang 2018, but finished in third place behind Vincent Zhou and Uno Shoma in Las Vegas seven days ago, opening his Olympic season campaign with an unexpected bronze.

Skate Canada marked his eighth career Grand Prix gold and keeps Chen in contention for December's prestigious Grand Prix Final in Japan.

"I definitely had better outings here than at Skate America," Chen said. "I always want to push myself forward, even if that means taking out an element so that I can skate clean."

A week ago he attempted six quads in his free skate, but a triple Lutz early on in the free showed he was playing things safe - at least in his terms.

Skate Canada is the second stop of the Grand Prix Series following Skate America last week, with the top skaters in the world looking to continue their journey towards Beijing 2022, set for February.

Earlier, in the pairs event, two-time world champions Sui Wenjing and Han Cong of China won their sixth Grand Prix title with a 30-point triumph over the second-place team of Daria Pavliuchenko and Denis Khodykin of Russia.

Sui/Han are one of the favorites for the podium at their upcoming home Winter Games. They scored a 224.05 overall, easily outpacing the Russians at 193.08.

Americans Ashley Cain-Gribble and Timothy LeDuc had a redemptive free skate to claim the bronze, totalling 189.90.

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Chen-pion again as U.S. men go 1-2

After the short program on Friday (29 October), Chen revealed that he was happy he got a shot at redemption so quickly after his Skate America bronze, arriving on Monday and training for the week in a different environment.

It worked: He looked steadier and more sure of himself on the ice in Vancouver, including in his Mozart-themed free skate, albeit one that he went for “just” four quads versus his normal five or six.

“The call to reduce elements was just because I didn’t have enough time,” he told reporters, adding that he had been dealing with a hip issue.

Chen also faced another issue over the weekend as coach Rafael Arutunian had his accreditation revoked having broken Covid-19 protocols at the event. The two talked on the phone prior to his free skate, Arutunian able to watch from inside the arena.

“In this case, what went down was appropriate,” he said. “It's reasonable to adhere to the bubble protocol. I'm glad he was still able to be in the arena. He was able to give me a quick call before I got on ice.”

Chen’s teammate Brown overcame an early fall on a triple Axel in his Schindler’s List free skate, a program he used during the 2019-20 season and has brought back.

“I'm a little disappointed with my free skate today, but that being said, this Grand Prix season is a chance to learn and grow as we move towards the Olympics,” said Brown, who made the 2014 U.S. team but missed out on the Games in 2018.

Semenenko is part of the conversation to make the three-man ROC team for Beijing, after an eighth-place finish at worlds in 2021. Mikhail Kolyada, the former world medallist, is the top Russian man. 

Canada’s home hope Keegan Messing had a scary fall in his free skate, hitting his chin on the ice on a triple loop attempt. He dropped from third to fifth overall.

Russia’s Makar Ignatov finished fourth.

Pairs: Sui/ Han soar to start Grand Prix strong

Sui/Han, the 2017 and 2019 world champions, have returned to their popular "Bridge Over Troubled Water" free skate, re-working the choreography with Lori Nichol. The duo won worlds in 2017 with the same program.

They received the highest marks of any duo in both the technical and program component scores, earning a Level 4 on their opening triple twist. Sui fell on the pairs' second jumping pass, a side-by-side triple Salchow.

"In my opinion we did not bad. We had some misses... but those are all the things that we can improve," said Sui, 26. "We'll try to fix all of [that]."

The team heads from one Grand Prix to the next: They'll skate next weekend at the Gran Premio d'Italia in Torino, the event which had been moved from China earlier this year.

The team said the Olympic anticipation is building in China as the Games are now under 100 days away.

"The Beijing Olympics are coming very soon," said Sui. "As home skaters we don't want attention from the media. We want good conditions and to follow our training program... (But) in our free time we also try to record videos to draw attention to the Olympics. During Skate Canada, we know of a lot of people who are watching in the middle of the night [at home]."

Cain-Gribble/ LeDuc leapfrog onto podium

Pavliuchenko/Khodykin held firm in second place, though there was plenty of movement below them. The Russian duo will be part of a fierce domestic battle for only three pairs spots on the ROC team for Beijing.

Cain-Gribble/LeDuc, like Sui/Han, have returned to a previous program, their W.E. soundtrack free skate having been used in the 2018-19 season, when they won their lone U.S. title.

"We're really happy with our result... we've worked really hard coming into this event," said LeDuc. "We feel like we have good momentum. 

The season-long Canadian showdown between reigning national champions Kirsten Moore-Towers and Michael Marinaro and the newly-formed team of two veterans, Vanessa James and Eric Radford continued on Saturday, as well, with neither team having a satisfactory performance.

Not one but two missed lifts by Moore-Towers/Marinaro soured an otherwise strong free skate, dropping them to sixth overall, while James/Radford finished fourth.

James formerly skated for France with Morgan Cipres, while Radford won two world championships and an individual Olympic bronze with Meagan Duhamel in 2018.

Germany's Minerva Fabienne Hase and Nolan Seegert finished in fifth.