BEIJING (AP) — Three-time men’s figure skating world champion Nathan Chen has delivered a strong short program to open the team competition at the Beijing Games. That gets the Americans off to a good start in their pursuit of a third straight medal in the event.
Chen opened with a big quad flip and hit his difficult quad lutz-triple toe loop combination to deliver the highest score among the men Friday and give the U.S. the maximum 10 points.
Reigning Olympic silver medalist Shoma Uno was second to give Japan nine points. Eighteen-year-old Mark Kondratiuk was third for the Russian Olympic Committee, which is favored to win the team event.
After Chen’s performance, Madison Hubbell and Zachary Donohue delivered a season-best performance in rhythm dance, giving Team USA a second straight win on the opening day of figure skating.
In other Olympic news:
— American mixed doubles curlers Vicky Persinger and Chris Plys survived an extra end against Sweden for a much-needed victory in the Olympics. They quickly hugged and then found two friendly faces to wave to in a far corner of the eerily quiet and mostly empty Ice Cube. Masked faces, of course, but definitely friendly faces. Persinger and Plys were pretty sure they were waving at team psychologist Carly Anderson and dietician Kaela Colvard. The two were among the few spectators who saw the Americans take an 8-7 victory in the round-robin competition to even their record at 2-2. The win moved the Americans into a tie for fifth in the 10-team field. After the round robin, the top four teams move into the semifinals.
— The U.S. men’s hockey team has held its first pre-Olympic practice in Beijing without two top defenseman and a veteran forward following positive tests for COVID-19. Defenseman Jake Sanderson remains in Los Angeles, while defenseman Steven Kampfer and forward Andy Miele are isolating in the Olympic Village in Beijing.
— U.S. women’s hockey star Brianna Decker will miss the rest of the Olympics after injuring her left leg in the Americans’ tournament-opening victory against Finland. The forward was hurt when she was tripped from behind midway through the first period Thursday night.
— Organizers say nine more athletes and officials tested positive for COVID-19 in cases confirmed on Thursday, raising the total to 111 since the Olympic period started on Jan. 23. Seven cases were detected at the Beijing airport, making it 77 out of 5,255 athletes and officials who arrived through Thursday.
