Nathan Chen likely to skate 2019-20 programs at 2022 U.S. Championships

Back on the yellow brick road: Nathan Chen’s costume top for his Elton John medley free program in 2019-20. (ISU via Getty Images)

Three-time world champion Nathan Chen has gone back to the programs that produced his career best scores.

They are the short program to Charles Aznavour’s version of “La Bohème” and the free skate to an Elton John medley that Chen used in the 2019-20 season, which ended prematurely when the onset of the Covid pandemic forced cancellation of the 2020 World Championships in Montreal.

At the 2019 Grand Prix Final, Chen’s short program to the Aznavour earned him a personal best 110.38 points. With the Elton John free skate at that event, Chen scored a world record 224.92 for a world record total of 335.30.

Chen was to revisit them for the first time competitively at this season’s Grand Prix Final two weeks ago, but it was cancelled because of complications related to the new Covid variant. So the revival now is likely to come at the 2022 U.S. Championships, in which Chen will seek a sixth straight title in a men’s competition that begins Jan. 8.

Chen coyly said “yeah, probably” when asked in a Monday media Zoom call if he would use the 2019-20 programs at nationals. “Further on in the season, still TBD (to be determined),” he added.

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