This Doesn't Seem Human — U.S. Gold Medal Prodigy Brings Stadium To Their Feet With Gravity-Defying Routine

Jul 14, 2020 by apost team

One of the most incredible gold medal ice skaters gives the audience a shock with his award-winning routine at the 2019 U.S. Figure Skating Championship in Detroit, Michigan. Captured on video, this routine seemed to defy physics as Nathan Chen found himself doing almost the impossible on ice.

The Incredible Routine 

In this video, Chen is able to keep the audience rapt with attention during his seven-minute routine. During his routine, he would perform some of the most complex moves every captured on ice. As the song “Land of All” by Woodkid begins to play, Chen starts off with some simple yet flawless jumps. The audience applauds every perfect move. As the music begins to build, Chen kicks things up a notch with more complex jumps, twists, and spins. The audience is with him every step of the way.

However, it is about halfway through the video that things really begin to get interesting. Chen starts to perform some complex, compound moves rarely seen on the ice. Some of the most incredible jumps include some double jump combinations.

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Towards the end of his program, Chen performs some moves that would stun the audience. That includes some rarely seen quadruple jumps rarely seen on any level of competition. When it was over, the audience was brought to their feet as Chen took in the fan's adoration.

This record-setting performance wasn't completely unexpected. Back in 2017, Nathan Chen became the first skater in history to land four different quads in a free skating program and five squads in total. Those jumps included a toe loop, salchow, loop, flip, and lutz.

After the routine, the video shows some replays of Nathan Chen's most incredible jumps in slow motion. It is here where one can capture the complexity and intensity of the routine. The video ends with the final announcement of the judge's score. The breakdown of Chen's score including a technical elements score of 121.24 and a presentation score of 94.78 for a total score of 228.80.

The incredible routine earned Nathan Chen a first-place finish by an astounding 20 points.

Nathan Chen was only 19 years old at the time of this video. The astounding aspect of Chen's performance is that he has only been skating for the past 9 years. However, it has been an amazing run for this top talent. In fact, Chen won the first ice skating routine that he had ever entered at the age of 10. Since then, he has been winning championship after championship.

Some of the highlights of Chen's ice skating career include a total of eight gold medals. That includes three gold medals in the ice skating Grand Prix Final, one gold medal in the Junior Grand Prix Final, two golds in the World Championships, one gold in the Four Continents Championships, and one gold in the World Team Trophy. Nathan Chen was also the number one ranked male ice skater from 2017 to 2019. Today, Chen still holds the world record for the highest personal scores in Free Skate and Combined Total Programs.

Nathen Chen's performance at the 2019 U.S. Figure Skating Championship in Detroit, Michigan is well worth a second or a third watch. What do you think about this outstanding performance? Pass it along to your friends and find out what they think!