Chen, Kim soar to Olympic golds on best day for US

BEIJING: Nathan Chen soared effortlessly and nearly perfectly five times during his “Rocketman” performance.

When his skates touched down for the final time in a historic arena in Beijing, he was an Olympic gold medallist.

Up at Genting Snow Park, Chloe Kim nailed all five jumps on her first run through the Secret Garden Olympic halfpipe, enough for her to easily defend her Olympic title on Thursday.

It was the United States’ best day yet at the Beijing Games. The United States also won gold in the Olympics first mixed team aerials event, giving them a total of four gold medals and 10 overall.

Chen, whose parents immigrated from China, had a memorable free skate to finally put behind him the immense disappointment from four years ago when a nightmarish short programme in South Korea dashed his medal hopes.

Skating his “Rocketman” programme set to the film score by Elton John, the 22-year-old Chen landed all five of his quads to leave no question he was the best in the world. He finished with 332.60 points, three off his own world record and 22 ahead of silver medallist Yuma Kagiyama of Japan. Shoma Uno of Japan took bronze. Reigning champion Yuzuru Hanyu fell twice on the ice and failed to win a medal

“It means the world. I’m just so happy,” said Chen, who was relaxed and expressive throughout his routine.

Chen took off with an opening quad salchow. He effortlessly landed four more quads. He had a slight bobble on a late combination sequence.

When his scores were read, coach Rafael Arutyunyan raised Chen’s left arm like a championship boxer.

Kim was so good on her first run down the halfpipe that it didn’t matter that she failed to land a big trick on her last run, aka the victory lap. The 21-year-old, who started snowboarding as a kid, became the first woman to win consecutive Olympic titles on the halfpipe.

The last rider into the halfpipe on the first run, Kim landed all five jumps, including a front and backside 1080 three spins each and a 900. She seemed to amaze even herself, twice putting her hands to her head at the end of the run, which earned a score of 94.

“I was just so proud of myself. I had the worst practice ever,” she said. “I probably landed my run twice when I’m used to landing it eight times. That kind of puts you in a weird headspace.”

The American trio of Ashley Caldwell, Christopher Lillis and Justin Schoenefeld each earned their first Winter Games medals in mixed team aerials, the first time the United States medalled in the freestyle skiing discipline in a dozen years.

On the ski slopes, Johannes Strolz won alpine combined gold — emulating his father’s triumph at the 1988 Calgary Olympics.

Strolz was dropped by the Austrian team not long ago and had to fund himself, even working as a traffic policeman for a time.

“I think I’m a good example of never giving up,” said the 29-year-old.

Norway and Germany top the medals table on five golds each, with Austria and Sweden both on four.

But the action on the snow and ice was overshadowed after Russian figure skating superstar Kamila Valieva practised as usual, hours after reports surfaced that she had tested positive for a banned substance.

The 15-year-old Valieva, who was expected to deliver her nation its third straight Olympic gold medal in women’s figure skating, tested positive for a banned heart medication before the Beijing Games, the Russian newspaper RBC reported.

Valieva scored maximum points in the women’s individual sections of the team event, which the Russian skaters won.

The International Skating Union declined to address the reports, saying it cannot disclose any information about any possible anti-doping rule violation.

Separately, Iranian alpine skier Hossein Saveh Shemshaki was suspended from the Olympics after testing positive for an anabolic steroid, the International Testing Agency (ITA) said, the first publicly announced doping case at the Games.