Reigning champ Nathan Chen doesn’t hide his anxieties about getting to, competing at figure skating worlds in Sweden
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Doing a flying spin is no sweat for Nathan Chen; flying from L.A. to Sweden during a pandemic is nerve wracking. (Jay Adeff - U.S. Figure Skating.)
Nathan Chen could have given a blandly optimistic answer to a question of whether he had any concerns over the long flight (with a connection) to get him from Los Angeles to Stockholm for next week’s World Figure Skating Championships.
Chen could have given a similarly anodyne response to a question about his concerns about staying safe and healthy once he is on the ground in Sweden for nine days.
But during a Zoom teleconference last week, the two-time defending world champion chose not to do either a Pollyanna or a Pinocchio about issues related to travel and the competition environment at a worlds taking place during the COVID-19 pandemic.
Much as he is “happy and grateful” to have the opportunity to compete at worlds, especially given the 2020 event scheduled for last March in Montreal was cancelled at the outset of this pandemic, Chen hesitated when asked if any part of him thinks it is a bad idea to have the 2021 worlds.
