2020 U.S. Nationals: Men's Free Skate

Nathan Chen repeated as the national champion—his fourth consecutive title—in Greensboro, N.C., on Sunday after an exciting-filled event. Jason Brown maintained second to win the silver, while Tomoki Hiwatashi rose from fifth to claim the bronze.

Chen gave a near-solid performance in his engaging routine to music from Rocketman, opening with a solid quad flip-triple toe and quad Salchow. He put his foot down on a quad toe-Euler-triple Salchow, but was otherwise clean, producing a strong quad toe and four more triple jumps. The two-time world champion also displayed level 4 spins and footwork, all of which received high grades of execution (GOE), throughout to place first with 216.04 in the free skate and overall (330.17).

“I’m thrilled that I was able to stay on my feet for all of the jumps,” said the new consecutive and four-time a champion. “I was a little shaky here and there, but overall I was able to get through the program. I was pretty worried about stamina coming in here, so I’m glad I was able to get through. I was able to stay consistent throughout the week. The audience definitely helped me with that and I’m really happy to be where I am.”

More...

What are your thoughts on the Men's event? Who was your favorite and why? Who do you think showed the most improvement this season?

Does anyone know of a video of Jason's FS? A friend of my husband turned up at exactly the wrong moment and made me miss Jason's entire program. :eeking:
I've been scouring the internet for a replay ever since. Thanks in advance!

Would love to see Jason’s skate (sounds like it was marvellous) but congrats to the top guys... sensational skates by Hiwatashi and Zhou. And of course Nathan was on (did he say he’s doing 4CC or he’s going straight to Worlds right?). Lovely skating and lots of potential with Torgashev and Pulkinen too.

For me, it was Hiwatashi—I loved him in Junior Worlds, then watched his up and down GP biting my nails. My mom loved Torgashev to bits.

I also thought Tran’s story was inspiring & Zhou did exceptional job out of his programs with so little prep.

Chen is synonymous with triumph.

feraina said:

Does anyone know of a video of Jason's FS? A friend of my husband turned up at exactly the wrong moment and made me miss Jason's entire program. :eeking:
I've been scouring the internet for a replay ever since. Thanks in advance!

Click to expand...

Here is Jason's programme and here is the Olympic Channel replay, Jason is on at about 1 hour 45 mins, and has better camera angles, plus commentary from Tanith and Charlie as well as the beautiful interaction with Tracy.

I'm quite emotional, a little drunk and its 1am here, but basically Tracy is so right. Jason is very, very special, and that performance was one I will never forget. You could see the heart and soul Jason poured into that performance and how much it meant to him.

Breathtaking and exquisite.

Where can I watch Nathan and Jason’s free skate? Our broadcast was interrupted just before Nathan. Thanks.

Jason was magical. He wove a spell of perfection. No-one could even really care that he << the quad, he stood up, he didn't fall and break the spell. He kept it going. Oh, that was so heart-filling.

jeb said:

Where can I watch Nathan and Jason’s free skate? Our broadcast was interrupted just before Nathan. Thanks.

Click to expand...

Link to the Olympic Channel replay is earlier in this thread and also USFS and rockerskating just posted on their twitter feeds.

Oh well. When I go there it says it is not available.&#55357;&#56862;

For me, the highlights were Torgashev's stunning SP, both of Jason's programs but especially the LP, and Tomoki.

Torgashev one of the most talented male skaters from any country, in my opinion. He's very musical, athletic, and a gifted choreographer as shown by both his SP and LP he choreographed himself! I was disappointed he couldn't skate cleanly in the LP, but hopefully he'll get 4CC and skate well there.

Question: Why did Jason get 0 points for his 3F-3T combo? Was it because his 4T was downgraded to a 3T and it counted as a repetition of the 3T?

ice_tulip said:

Question: Why did Jason get 0 points for his 3F-3T combo? Was it because his 4T was downgraded to a 3T and it counted as a repetition of the 3T?

Click to expand...

That was panel error. Jason did a 3A followed by a 3F early in the program, which the technical caller mistakenly entered as 3A-3F rather than as separate elements, which meant that the system initially read his 3F-3T as if Jason had done four combinations; that was corrected in the review.

ice_tulip said:

For me, the highlights were Torgashev's stunning SP, both of Jason's programs but especially the LP, and Tomoki.

Torgashev one of the most talented male skaters from any country, in my opinion. He's very musical, athletic, and a gifted choreographer as shown by both his SP and LP he choreographed himself! I was disappointed he couldn't skate cleanly in the LP, but hopefully he'll get 4CC and skate well there.

Question: Why did Jason get 0 points for his 3F-3T combo? Was it because his 4T was downgraded to a 3T and it counted as a repetition of the 3T?

Click to expand...

Agree, Torgashev is a great skater. I'm not so sure he'll get 4CC. Even if Nathan doesn't go, and I don't think he will, I don't think the alternates will reach Andrew.

From what I gather, the TV score box incorrectly recorded Jason has having a REP, but it was a technical error. He wasn't actually docked any points, it didn't effect his score or the standings in any way.

Honestly, just an all around fabulous event. The US has a huge number of talented young skaters. I found all of the top ten skaters compelling and even those who placed near the bottom like Jinsoo Kim were lovely to watch. Compared to the ladies ( the top 3 ladies were lovely, amazing but further down it was a bit rougher) and to Canadian/ Russian nationals( a few standouts at each event but not impressive all around) the US men have great SS and at this competition were surprising consistent.

Nathan is impressive.
Jason is very very special. He just brought me to tears.
Tomoki is full of power and has impressive body movement.
Vincent is so heartfelt and earnest.
Andrew is beautiful. His SS are pretty much on Patrick Chan's level.. his posture.. his musicality and he is starting to put it together.
Alexei Krasnozhon is not polished but his basic skating and performance have improved by leaps and bounds.
Camden has it all and is getting better at putting it all together just like Andrew.
Dinh Tran doesn't have the difficulty but he is a great performer.
Sean Rabbitt is just a great performer who really moves the audience.
Yaroslav Paniot has a weird LP but his skill is evident even through the mess.


I really enjoyed enjoyed the whole competition. I have always thought that Japanese men were the cream of the crop internationally (they still are) but the US men are really improving.

Colonel Green said:

That was panel error. Jason did a 3A followed by a 3F early in the program, which the technical caller mistakenly entered as 3A-3F rather than as separate elements, which meant that the system initially read his 3F-3T as if Jason had done four combinations; that was corrected in the review.

Click to expand...

The caller didn't enter it incorrectly, the Data Operator did. From experience, my guess is that the operator either forgot to or missed the "NEXT" button after Jason landed the 3A. Then, when the TS called the 3F, the Operator entered the 3F - but because they had not pressed "NEXT", it entered the same box as the 3A - so the computer thought it was a 3A-3F combo.

It seems what happened then was the Operator realised the mistake, hastily clicked NEXT and then entered the 3F on its own, and then they continued with the rest of the skate (there's simply not time to fix some things live).

But because the computer thought there was a 3A-3F combo, when the 3F-3T was correctly entered, the computer threw out both jumps because it thought he repeated the 3F too many times and he'd done four combos. After Jason's skate, the Operator must have quickly gone back to the box that read 3A-3F, re-entered it correctly as 3A, and then clicked out, so the computer re-validated the elements, re-counted the 3F-3T, and we had that brief, glorious moment where Jason's TES was 99.

My guess is that the Operator either didn't quite have the mouse over the NEXT button (that happens a lot) or that they inadvertently found themselves caught in the web of magic being woven on the ice and was, for a moment, distracted...

Jason's Elvis Stojko haircut.......just no

Hiwatashi's jumps were excellent but I agree with Johnny. Why choose such a character piece that requires strong acting skills? I think it was a great disservice by his team to choose that music. He definitely shows some promise artistically but is very green at the moment and the music didn't make him look his best. Either way congrats on the well deserved Bronze!

I'm not sure why with his history of inconsistency Torgashev went for 3 quads Personally I think he's got enough artistry and ability on the PCS to go the Jason Brown route. 1 quad in the free skate and concentrate on getting the rest clean would have been more practical. He can do them but gain more consistency and then start adding more. Either way hopefully this was a break through for him and he can start leaving juniors behind for good

By way of the Yellow Brick Road, Nathan took us all to a plane of existence above and beyond. To a place where joy and wonder abound. That's one of the reasons I watch figure skating ...it elevates daily life and universal emotions.

Oh, yes, And once when he rounded the lutz end, where I was sitting, he was skating one of those fun, curvy interludes. There was a collective "Woooo-hooooo" .. And tthen Nathan looked at me and smiled. His cool, sweet smile.

Nice competition, and I hardly ever say anything about judging.

But ... can someone explain to me why Nathan Chen's program got as high PCSs as Jason Brown's?

OK, never mind Brown. In what way were Chen's TR, Performance, Composition and Interpretation better than Tomoki Hiwatashi's? (I don't pretend to an opinion about Skating Skills.)

In TR, what did Nathan do in the first half of the program besides set up for three quads and a triple Axel? Compared to Hiwatashi, did Nathan do anything out of the ordinary in terms of Choreography or Performance that he should get higher than 9.5 in every PCS category to Hiwatashi's scores in the 8s? Did the judges feel that Hiwatashi's skate was -- oh no! the curse of doom -- "juniorish," while Chens' was "World-Champion-ish?"

Chen deserved the win, obviously, despite a couple of scratchy saved landings. He hit on 4 out of 5 quads, so nothing else needs to be scored. Still, try as I might I just cannot achieve an understanding of what the judges are measuring when they contemplate the program components.

Mathman said:

But ... can someone explain to me why Nathan Chen's program got as high PCSs as Jason Brown's?
.

Click to expand...

No, worse. Chen got higher PCS.

Oh my gosh what a fantastic competition! I'm over the moon. The guys really brought it yesterday and today and I couldn't be happier!

Nathan - Not perfect but for having the flu and limited training time (that also had him remove all lutzs from his program) it was still awesome. Those quads really do look like triples. And I will never tire of that choreo sequence.

Jason - was SUBLIME. That was a brilliant skate in a way that only Jason can skate. Tracy said it best, "You are special!" He really went for the quad, yes it was downgraded, but he went for it, stayed on his feet, and went on with the program. Just magic.

Tomoki - I knew you could do it! Finally got to see that program skated like it should. I admittedly like his SP a lot better but I appreciate that he wanted to step out of his comfort zone and try something different. The jumps were really sharp and spot-on today.

Vincent - You know I think pulling back on the quads really helped Vincent focus on the performance rather than the tech. I felt fully invested in both his programs. And there was this joy in his skating I don't recall ever feeling from him before.

Andrew - I was squeezing for Andrew so hard after that spectacular SP. Those two falls were scary but he didn't let that unnerve him. So much respect for going for it and adding a 4S. I'm still amazed that he self-choreoed both those programs. I hope this was a breakthrough for him.

Alexei - Landed a 4L! Yeah I don't care that it was UR. He really came alive at the end, I just love his chaotic, wild energy. This program suits him so well.

Camden - I just love Camden's skating. I'm amazed at the stability of that 4T and aside from that popped jump (argh!) everything was just lovely. One day he'll put two amazing clean skates together and all will be right with the world.

Yaroslav- Really impressed with what he did here today. He's going to make a splash in the future for sure.

All-in-all what a great competition!

Mathman said:

Nice competition, and I hardly ever say anything about judging.

But ... can someone explain to me why Nathan Chen's program got as high PCSs as Jason Brown's?

OK, never mind Brown. In what way were Chen's TR, Performance, Composition and Interpretation better than Tomoki Hiwatashi's? (I don't pretend to an opinion about Skating Skills.)

In TR, what did Nathan do in the first half of the program besides set up for three quads and a triple Axel? Compared to Hiwatashi, did Nathan do anything out of the ordinary in terms of Choreography or Performance that he should get higher than 9.5 in every PCS category to Hiwatashi's scores in the 8s? Did the judges feel that Hiwatashi's skate was -- oh no! the curse of doom -- "juniorish," while Chens' was "World-Champion-ish?"

Chen deserved the win, obviously, despite a couple of scratchy saved landings. He hit on 4 out of 5 quads, so nothing else needs to be scored. Still, try as I might I just cannot achieve an understanding of what the judges are measuring when they contemplate the program components.

Click to expand...

Truth. World Champions are always overscored. Tomoki, Jason and in my opinion several other competitors were superior in the PCS department. But, I do think the most important thing is the final result.