Chen on road to recovery after season-ending injury (5/18/16)
Chen on road to recovery after season-ending injury
U.S. bronze medalist training in Colorado Springs, still not doing jumps
Nathan Chen, who broke records with quads at the 2016 U.S. Figure Skating Championships but left the event with a season-ending hip injury, said he is on the right path to recovery.
"I'm good right now," said Chen, who turned 17 on May 5. "I am back on the ice but not quite jumping yet. I am recovering, and if this was to happen, this was the best time for it to happen."
Just hours after capturing the bronze medal in Saint Paul, Chen was skating in the exhibition when he suffered an avulsion injury (which happens when a piece of bone tears away from the main part of the bone) while attempting a triple toe. He underwent surgery a few days later, forcing him to miss the world junior championships and the world championships in Boston.
Chen spent about a month recuperating at the U.S. Olympic Training Center in Chula Vista, California. Since then, he has been in Colorado Springs, living and training at the U.S. Olympic Committee headquarters.
"I am only on one session a day (on the ice), but I am doing a lot off the ice," Chen said.
Saint Paul was a wild ride for Chen, who became the first skater to land two quads in a short program at the U.S. Figure Skating Championships, and then went on to land four more quads in his free skate.
But the elation he felt from those accomplishments, and from being named to the U.S. international teams, quickly turned to devastation.
"Everything happened to me in about two hours," Chen said. "I made the world team and then after the exhibition I was told I was done for the season."
There is no immediate timetable for Chen to return to competition; his first goal is just to get healthy. With the next Winter Olympics still two years away, the timing of the injury could have been a lot worse.
Chen said, "This was the best of the worst situation."
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