By Louis Chan, AsAmNews National Correspondent
Nathan Chen broke his own record in the short program at the U.S. Figure Skating championship in Nashville Saturday, scoring 115.39.
Vincent Zhou of Palo Alto, California wasn’t that far behind, however. He finished second with a 112.78. Zhou is the last person to beat Chen. He won the Skate America competition over Chen in Las Vegas back in October, ending a winning streak that lasted more than three seasons.
The two will face off in the finals on Sunday afternoon.
“It’s amazing to have such strong U.S. competitors,” said Chen. “I focus on myself. I can’t control anything else.”
17-year-old Ilia Malinin placed third, earning a 103.46.
Jimmy Ma of Queens placed fifth.
As for his own performance, Chen described it as “shaky” at the end, but acknowledged he was “overall happy with the end result.”
AsAmNews has Asian America in its heart. We’re an all-volunteer effort of dedicated staff and interns. Check out our new Instagram account. Go to our Twitter feed and Facebook page for more content. Please consider interning, joining our staff, or submitting a story, or making a contribution.