US Men's Olympic Figure Skating 2022: Updated Top Scorers for Team USA

The mastery of Nathan Chen made it likely that men's figure skating would be the talk of the 2022 Winter Olympic Games, and the best in the world did not disappoint.

Chen stole the headlines for the United States with some dominant performances. The phenom set records, wowed spectators and rewrote history books across his performances in both the team event and men's singles competition, shaking off a disappointing showing four years earlier in the process.

He was not the only men's skater from Team USA to make an impact in these games, though.

Relive Chen's otherworldly showing, and check out those who have fueled the U.S. to figure skating success in Beijing.

Chen wasted little time sending a message to a worldwide audience about just who these Olympics belonged to.

In the short program of the team event, he easily finished first, setting Team USA up for an early medal. He sailed through the air with quad jumps and demonstrated classy footwork on the way to a season-high 111.71 points.

He was unequivocally the best skater on the ice in that competition, setting the tone for the rest of his appearances in these games.

"I still have a lot more to do ahead of me. Of course, I'm very, very happy. I might not be the most emotive person, but deep down I'm genuinely very happy," Chen said after his performance, per Juliet Macur and Victor Mather of the New York Times.

Elsewhere in the team event for the U.S., Zachary Donohue and partner Madison Hubbell scored a first-place finish with an 86.56 in rhythm dance, while Brandon Frazier and partner Alexa Knierim's strong performance in the pairs short program (75.0, good enough for third) fueled an impressive first day on the ice.

The Russian Olympic Committee would surge back in the second day of the team event, eventually leading them to a gold-medal finish as the U.S. settled for silver.

Vincent Zhou replaced Chen during Day 2 and finished third in the free skate with a score of 171.44.

Unfortunately, a positive COVID-19 test would lead to Zhou leaving the games prematurely, and he was unable to participate in the men's singles event.

After Chen set a world record in his short program with a score of 113.97—some 5.85 points ahead of second-place finisher Yuma Kagiyama of Japan—it became abundantly clear that the dark cloud of the 2018 Olympic games, which hung over his head for the last four years, was about to be exorcised. 

In Pyeongchang, South Korea, Chen had come into the 2018 Winter Games with plenty of hype, but a fall after trying to land a quadruple lutz and a failure to complete his combination put him out of medal contention after the opening short program. 

This time around, foe Yuzuru Hanyu of Japan was out of the competition by the time he hit the ice for his free skate program, and none of the other skaters still in the hunt for a medal really stood a chance against the pre-eminent favorite to capture gold.

Chen's 218.63 score in the free skate earned him a total score of 332.60 and put him a full 22.55 points ahead of runner-up Kagiyama in what amounted to a rout. It was no contest whatsoever, an exclamation point on a four-year journey back to the grandest stage in figure skating and the official coronation of a king the sport had recognized all along the way.

"Today was business," he told the press after his performance.

It certainly appeared that way. Like Bill Belichick commands of his New England Patriots in the NFL, Chen did his job and emerged from the pack as Olympic champion, never allowing his past disappointment to cloud his vision or thoughts.

Fellow American Jason Brown finished the event with a combined score of 281.24, good enough for sixth place. Japan's Kagiyama ended his games with silver (310.05), while his countryman Shoma Uno (293.00) earned bronze.

Chen's victory does not end Team USA's bids for figure skating glory in the 2022 Winter Games.

Donohue and Hubbell will look to follow up their first-place finish in the team event with a gold medal performance in ice dance, beginning with rhythm dance Saturday morning at 6:00 a.m. A top-20 finish will qualify them for the free dance competition.

Fellow Americans Evan Bates and Madison Chock and Jean-Luc Baker and Kaitlin Hawayek could provide competition.

Despite Team USA's success in the ice dance portion of the team event, it is France's Guillaume Cizeron and Gabriella Papadakis that enter the competition as favorites to earn gold on the sport's grandest stage.

Frazier and Knierim are the top American pairs skaters in this year's games, but they face stiff competition from the ROC's Aleksandr Galliamov and Anastasia Mishina.