Nathan Chen wins Skate America with a world record and half of his usual quads

Brezina shows improved form and captures silver, Voronov takes the bronze

American Nathan Chen, the reigning World champion, ran away with the competition at Skate America this weekend. He attempted only half of his usual number of quads: one in the short program and three in the free skate. At his peak, Chen's layout contained two quads in the short program and six in the free skate. However, he made no major mistakes in either program, save for an under-rotation of a quadruple flip in the short program and an unclear edge call in the free skate.

On his way to the win, Chen took world records of the new scoring system in the free skate and in the combined total from Shoma Uno of Japan. Uno had earned 172.05 and 276.20, then the highest free skate and combined scores respectively, at the Lombardia Trophy earlier this year.

Chen skated his short program to Caravan by Fanfare Ciocarlia and his free skate to Land of All by Woodkid.

Michal Brezina may be enjoying a comeback season after moving to Lakewood, California to train with Rafael Artunyan earlier this year. His sold performances in the short program and the free skate earned him second place in both segments and the silver medal overall. He made one major mistake when he singled a triple flip in his short program, but his only mistake in the free skate was a botched landing on a triple Axel. His short program was set to Brian May's "Who Wants to Live Forever," and his free skate was set to AC/DC.

Sergei Voronov of Russia was fourth in both segments of the competition, but he was able to overcome deficits by Julian Zhi Jie Yee of Malaysia and Vincent Zhou of the United States to grab the bronze medal. His programs were set to "Prelude No. 5 in G Minor" by Rachmaninoff and "Way Down We Go" by Kaleo, both of which included beautiful quadruple-toe loop combinations.

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