Nathan Chen GP Canada 2021 FS Kurt Browning Comments

Representing the United States of America, Nathan Chen. OK, our final competitor, the three time world champion, Nathan Chen, certainly dazzled us the other day in the short. And that was a huge victory after a disappointing third place finishing Skate America a week earlier. Now he wants to seal the deal and win the Skate Canada title. A very different kind of artistry than Jason, but he will start with the exact same jump, the quad salchow. We'll see his version right here. A little higher in the air, a lean, looked a little out of control. And yet his self-awareness of what four revolutions feels like allows him the ability to recover, even if it isn't perfect. Beautiful Lutz, only three revolutions. He can do the quad Lutz, and he's taking a little bit of a break here at Skate Canada. Putting the quad Lutz on the burner until later on in the season. Quad flip, though. OK, I think four revolutions for him feels like what triple does for everyone else. So much concern after Skate America when he finished third. Remember, he had not lost a single competition since the Olympic Games in Pyeongchang. Triple Axel looking better this season than I've ever seen it. Love those two hops to start this step sequence on the toe pick, total control over that and then ownership after that. No one else moves like this. Are we looking at the future Olympic champion, Kurt? Sure, sure, sure. I think Yuzuru Hanyu will have anything to say about that. Sure, absolutely. I'm going to be there to watch. It's going to be awesome. It was an interesting strategy because what he's decided to do is go back to back competitions, the Grand Prix circuit. So the Grand Prix final, he's going to win this competition. He's got a third place finish. He'll be heading to that Grand Prix final in December where he probably will meet Yuzuru Hanyu. Yeah, we'll see. I mean, I just think it's really interesting he chose to stay in North America, not traveling as much. You know, he's got a life at school as well that he wants to keep going, I think. But, you know, there's more than just these amazing quads. I love how much conviction and ownership he has with the music choices he makes and the choreography that is put to it. You know, just the ability to kind of make you believe that that was the right move in that music, that you can't see anybody else doing anything else. And that is why I think that he is also so well-rounded as a performer, a competitor. He's consistent. His self-awareness in the air is just cat-like. You can see he has no real speed here. He has a bit of a lean forward on this flip. And yet just with the subtlest of lean forward and a little massaging of the knee, he gets a little bit of flow out of it. And then late in the program, he gets bonus marks for his last three jumping sequences, triple axel, quad toe, quad toe. Who does that? So he's scoring points. He's smart with how he builds his program. And then he then he sells it. And he's grown so much as an entertainer, a performer over the years since he first came on the senior circuit. I was a little kid. He was a good performer, too. He was. Yeah, you got to go on YouTube. Check it out. OK, I forget. My memory's bad. Anyway, look at that score. Free program score of over 200. And you know what, Kurt? He takes the title. Yeah. By 48 points over Jason Brown. That's a lot of points. Well, that's a testament to him, but also to how difficult the long program was for the majority of the men today. And it wasn't a clean effort from the group. Like like you said, like the short program was.