By Phil Helsel, NBC
If there were any doubt, star U.S. figure skater Nathan Chen made the statement on the ice with emphasis: That was then, and this is now.
The 22-year-old scored a world record 113.97 in the short program Tuesday at the Beijing Winter Games, in a performance that included a quad flip, a triple axel and a quad lutz-triple toeloop combo.
It was a far cry from his disappointing performance at the 2018 PyeongChang Olympics.
“I’m just elated,” Chen told NBC’s Andrea Joyce after the skate.
“Last Olympics, both short programs didn’t go the way that I wanted, and finally getting the opportunity to skate the program to the way that I wanted — it feels really great, it means a lot,” he said.
The record beats the previous one set by two-time defending gold medalist Yuzuru Hanyu of Japan, who had a rough start to Tuesday’s performance.
Hanyu’s first jump was supposed to be a quadruple salchow, but he essentially performed single salchow instead, NBC Olympics reported.