Figure Skaters Nathan Chen, Adam Rippon and Vincent Zhou Named to Team USA for 2018 Games
Figure skaters Nathan Chen, Adam Rippon and Vincent Zhou were named to Team USA for the 2018 Winter Olympics next month in South Korea, officials announced on Sunday.
The selection came soon after the end of the men’s singles competition at the U.S. Figure Skating Championships, where Chen — a phenomenally physically gifted 18-year-old skater — dominated his competitors, earning first place by a wide margin.
Zhou, 17, came in third. Rippon, 28, who was an alternate for Team USA at the 2010 Games, came in fourth.
Ross Miner, 26, came in second but was not chosen to head to Pyeongchang — a nod to Rippon’s stronger overall season.
This will be Zhou’s first Olympics, as it will be for Chen.
In January 2017, Chen became the first male figure skater ever to land five quadruple jumps in a single performance. A month later, he did it again.
“I think that my very best performances are the times when I completely block everything out and it goes on auto drive — I don’t think about anything,” Chen told PEOPLE last year.
While he said “it has crossed my mind a few times,” the fact that he’s breaking skating records is “more just being able to top what I did the day before.”
Chen, Rippon and Zhou join Karen Chen, Mirai Nagasu and Bradie Tennell as figure skaters on Team USA.
The 2018 Winter Olympics will air live starting Feb. 8. To learn more, visit teamusa.org.
