Nathan Chen, Vincent Zhou lead at U.S. Championships after short program

Standing ovations were in order on Saturday afternoon (8 January) at the U.S. Figure Skating Championships in Nashville.

1988 Olympic gold medallist Brian Boitano, sitting rinkside, leapt to his feet no fewer than four times during an entertaining men's short program, which once again found itself led by three-time world champion Nathan Chen, who is looking for his sixth consecutive American title.

The 22-year-old scored a 115.39 for his "La Boheme" short program. He leads 2018 Olympic teammate Vincent Zhou by three points, as Zhou thrilled with a 112.78 himself.

Seventeen-year-old Ilia Malinin is in third place (103.46), while 2014 Olympian Jason Brown is in fourth (100.84). Seven skaters scored over the 80-point total in what was a high-quality short program.

"This U.S. nationals short program was insane," Chen told reporters. "Every guy laid down amazing programs. It's a huge honor to be up here with these two guys. ... I'm grateful that I have an opportunity to compete and not have the Olympics be the first event since my Grand Prix [in October]."

The U.S. men have three available spots for next month's Olympic Games Beijing 2022. The team will be announced after Sunday's (9 January) free skate.

Mariah Bell won the women's event on Friday (7 January), and she, Karen Chen and Alysa Liu were named to the U.S. Olympic team on Saturday.

Later on Saturday afternoon, 2019 U.S. champions in pair skating Ashley Cain-Gribble and Timothy LeDuc were near their best, skating a sublime free skate and winning their second national title going away with a score of 225.23.

In the evening, Madison Chock and Evan Bates edged out training partners Madison Hubbell and Zachary Donohue, 227.37 to 225.59 to capture the ice dance gold. Chock/Bates won their third national title, matching Hubbell/Donohue's haul. and re-claiming the top spot from them.

Chen strong in re-visited short program

Earlier this season, Chen lost his first international event in over three years, placing third at Skate America behind Zhou and Japan's Uno Shoma. The next week, at the end of October, he found his form again, winning at Skate Canada International.

But nationals is his first competition since then, and he revealed last month that he would use previous programs - both the short and long - from the 2019-20 season.

Chen looked at home in his return to "La Boheme," opening with a quadruple flip before hitting a triple Axel and closing with a quad Lutz-triple toe-loop combination. He earned Level 4s for each of his spins and his step sequence, helping him to a 48.46 overall in Program Components, second only to the ethereal Brown (49.15).

While it was a strong day at the office for the reigning and five-time U.S. champ, Chen is also the reigning and three-time world champ, and will look to better his fifth-place finish from PyeongChang 2018 four years ago next month.

"The Olympics are a big deal for everyone," he said. "That's why we are here, that's why we are at the rink everyday. It really means a lot for us. We've just been working really hard."

The hard position was for Zhou, who skated last, and was equally as high-flying as Chen, soaring to a massive quad Lutz-triple toe to start, then a quad Salchow and triple Axel. The Skate America champion, skating to Josh Groban's "Vincent," pumped his fists with celebration upon receiving his marks.

Malinin, who competed on the Junior Grand Prix circuit this season, had wowed earlier in the afternoon, his eyes widening as his 103.46 score came through.

He is a long shot to make the three-man U.S. Olympic team, however, as former U.S. champion Brown is an established force on the international circuit and the Olympic selection committee refers to an athlete's body of work over the recent past.

Brown's "Sinnerman" short, which he held over from last season, was exceptional. And while he didn't attempt a quad jump, he scored nearly 10s across the boards in his Program Components, a mark he's well known for in skating.

Based in Toronto, Brown needed nearly 36 hours to arrive in Nashville as snow storms swept through the region.

"[This program] has evolved so much in the last two years, and the consistency of the program has just increased and the confidence of the program has increased," the 27-year-old said. "And I think that and the way that I'm able to connect to it and play to the audience has also increased."

Also connecting to the audience were top 7 finishers in Jimmy Ma (91.62), Camden Pulkinen (90.16) and Yaroslav Panoit (88.68).

Pairs: Cain-Gribble/LeDuc soar to second title

Cain-Gribble/LeDuc like to call themselves "pillars of strength," and they were just that on Saturday evening in Nashville.

The duo, national champions in 2019 and leaders after the short program, opened with a Level 3 triple twist lift and barely put a blade wrong in their free skate, Cain-Gribble doubling a planned triple Salchow in combination but otherwise executing a near-perfect performance.

The duo celebrated center ice, then threw their arms overhead upon receiving their scores, which put them into pole position ahead of Jessica Calalang and Brian Johnson's free skate.

Calalang/Johnson had beaten Cain-Gribble/LeDuc a year ago, but Johnson doubled a planned triple Salchow, then didn't execute on the pair's planned jump combination, all but sealing their silver fate. They finished 15 points back from Cain-Gribble/LeDuc, with a 209.87 total.

Cain-Gribble/LeDuc will likely join 2021 U.S. champions Alexa Knierim and Brandon Frazier on the U.S. Olympic team, the duo sitting out this nationals due to Frazier testing positive for Covid-19. The two-team squad will be announced Sunday (9 January).

Audrey Lu and Misha Mitrofanov finished with the bronze medal.

Ice dance: Chock/Bates take back gold

The American battle at the top of ice dance continues to be a heated one.

Winners on the national stage in 2015 and 2020, Chock/Bates carried their lead from the rhythm dance and didn't relent in the free dance, skating to their alien-and-astronaut-themed program, set to the music of Daft Punk.

Hubbell and Donohue skated earlier and outscored Chock/Bates, 136.20 to 135.43, but the gap from the rhythm dance was too much, where Hubbell/Donohue had several bobbles. Hubbell/Donohue received Level 4s on all their elements aside from a Level 3 on their step sequence in an otherwise chilling "Drowning."

Kaitlin Hawayek and Jean-Luc Baker hop-scotched from fourth to third, scoring a 205.68 overall to capture the bronze medal.

Three teams will be named to the U.S. team in an announcement set for Sunday.