Winter Olympics: Nathan Chen Executes Six Quadruple Jumps, Rockets Back Into Medal Contention

UPDATE: United States skater Nathan Chen’s bid for a men’s figure skating medal ultimately fell short. Japan’s Yuzuru Hanyu, who won the short program Thursday, did enough to earn a gold medal and a lifetime’s supply of Winnie the Pooh bears, which his fans shower onto the ice.

His countryman, Shoma Uno, surprised everyone by winning the silver medal. Uno fell early in his program, but in a fierce display of determination, finished strong and stormed into silver.

Spain’s Javier Fernandez took home the bronze.

EARLIER: Men’s figure skater Nathan Chen said he wanted to leave it all out there. He certainly did in his Friday performance in the free skate, putting him in position for a miracle comeback after falls on his first day in his short-form program nearly buried him in the competition.

Chen completed five clean quadruple jumps, an Olympics record, and almost nailed a clean sixth, touching the ice with his hand for balance. His performance vaulted himself back into medal contention and scoring one of the highest numbers of all-time, 297.35 total. The 18-year-old Chen, a two-time US champion, fell on all of his jumps in the short, falling all the way to 17th place out of 24 skaters.

But in the free skate he was superb, scoring 126.86 for technical virtuosity and 215.08 points for the overall free skate, a personal high.

Chen is currently number one, but there are still skaters yet to perform.

Fans rooting for Chen’s redemption exploded on social media:

Related stories

Winter Olympics: Adam Rippon Turns Down NBC Correspondent Position, Net Struggles With Broadcast Gaffes -- Update

Olympics Ratings Fall To 2018 Low On 2nd Saturday; Steady With Sochi 2014

Olympics Ratings Remain Low On Night Of Nathan Chen's Historic Quad Display

Get more from Deadline.com: Follow us on Twitter, Facebook, Newsletter