Nathan Chen completed his four-year journey toward an elusive Olympic gold medal Thursday, following his record short program at the Beijing Games with a near-perfect free skate that earned him a standing ovation from supporters inside the Capital Indoor Stadium. The 22-year-old star landed all five of his quads during his “Rocketman” program to finish…

Russia’s 15-year-old Kamila Valieva won the European figure skating championships in Estonia on Saturday, solidifying her status as the gold-medal favorite for next month’s Beijing Olympics. Valieva finished with a total of 259.06 points—achieving a 90.45 score in the women’s short program on Thursday and 168.61 in the free skate event on Saturday. She fell…

NASHVILLE, Tenn.—Mariah Bell put together a mesmerizing free skate at the U.S. Figure Skating Championships on Friday night, edging Karen Chen for her first gold medal and taking any drama out of whether she’s headed to her first Winter Olympics. Bell led after a spectacular short program, but it took an equally incredible performance to…

NASHVILLE, Tenn.—Two-time champion Alysa Liu withdrew from the U.S. Figure Skating Championships after testing positive for COVID-19 on Friday, less than a day after a third-place finish in the short program put her in position to make the Olympic team. The 16-year-old Liu is at least the fifth competitor to test positive for the virus…

SOCHI, Russia—Russia’s Kamila Valieva won the Rostelecom Cup on Saturday by beating her own free skate and combined total score world records a day after smashing the world record in the short program. The 15-year-old reinforced her status as a gold-medal favorite for next year’s Beijing Olympics by leading a Russian podium sweep. Silver medallist…

Russian teenager Kamila Valieva broke the women’s short program world record at the Rostelecom Cup in Sochi on Friday, setting a new ISU high score of 87.42 points to mark herself as a favorite for figure skating gold at next year’s Winter Olympics. Valieva’s score at the Iceberg Skating Palace was nearly two points better…

VANCOUVER, British Columbia—Nathan Chen rebounded from a surprising struggle last weekend at Skate America to top the short program Friday at Skate Canada. Third last week in Las Vegas after winning 14 straight events since March 2018, the 22-year-old American scored 106.72 points to open the competition at Doug Mitchell Thunderbird Sports Centre. “Any time,…

Nathan Chen suffered his first loss since the 2018 Pyeongchang Olympics on Saturday as he finished third at Skate America in Las Vegas, where fellow American Vincent Zhou won gold in the first Grand Prix event of the Olympic figure skating season. Chen, who was seeking a record-setting fifth consecutive Skate America title, was fourth…

STOCKHOLM—Nathan Chen already has established himself as one of America’s greatest figure skaters. His performance Saturday lifted him into the company of history’s best worldwide. In becoming the first American since Scott Hamilton to win a third consecutive World Figure Skating Championships men’s title, the 21-year-old Chen also outskated two-time Olympic champion Yuzuru Hanyu of…

LAS VEGAS—Bradie Tennell is back on top of American figure skating. The 22-year-old Olympian, who had finished second and third at the past two national championships, followed her rollicking short program with a rock-solid free skate Friday night at the U.S. Figure Skating Championships. Tennell hit all seven of her triple jumps to finish with…