Nathan Chen wins figure skating battle with Yuzuru Hanyu, Chloe Kim stars again – Best of Beijing

There’s only one component that elevates a good figure skating routine to a great one. It isn’t elegance. Nor is it a graceful spin. It isn’t even the quadruple axel – which is a relief for Yuzuru Hanyu after his much-hyped party trick left him sprawled on the ice.

No, what separates the truly iconic performances from the rest is how big the anthem blaring in the background is.

Nathan Chen knows this. The American soundtracked his first Olympic gold with a glorious Elton John medley – hitting the crowd early on with Goodbye Yellow Brick Road, dropping a quad lutz as he burst into Rocket Man, before bringing it home with some sass to Bennie and the Jets. We would have gone with a Lion King mash-up instead, but this was still an incredible audio and visual experience.

As for the Ice Prince, Hanyu? He cut a lost figure after falling on his beloved quadruple axel – so beloved he hasn’t actually shown it to anyone yet – but still somehow climbed from eighth to fourth in the standings. Still, it was an unavoidably disappointing result for his legion of furious followers, the Fanyus. Sources have told Eurosport that many are preparing to jump ship and start a rival faction, the Fhens, in the spring.

We still haven’t forgiven Chloe Kim for turning down our gift of an ice cream in the interview pen at PyeongChang 2018 – despite her explicitly asking for one – but we guess we should salute her after another stupendous run in the halfpipe.

The American, who burst onto the scene in South Korea aged 17, dropped a 94.00 on her first run to comfortably defend her title. More importantly, she used her platform to shine the spotlight on mental health and admitted struggling in the build-up to her Beijing bow.

“Everyone goes through things, everyone struggles with mental health. It's not an easy thing to overcome. I was just lying in bed thinking about today all night and it really messes with you sometimes and the problem is when you don't put yourself first and get help. Just take care of yourself,” said Kim.

"Acknowledge that what you're doing is not easy and there's a lot of pressure and people expect a lot out of you, that's not normal at all, and so what is normal is to struggle with those types of pressures.

"This morning, I was not in a good place at all but just giving yourself constant warm reminders that it's OK to feel the way that you do and that you know you can do the best you can, that's all you have to do. Those little reminders I give myself really helped me reset and get back to where I need to be.”

Kim’s comments feel particularly important in light of Naomi Osaka’s press boycott and Simone Biles’ struggles at the Tokyo Olympics. Meanwhile, Mikaela Shiffrin’s team said she would not do media for the “foreseeable future” after she crashed out of her two favoured events.

Kim signed off her press conference by asking if any journalists had some snacks. We hope they didn’t fall for it like we did.

There’s so much to love about the luge relay. A woman, man and doubles pairing roaring down the ice-coated concrete one after the other, passing over the invisible baton when a dangling paddle is slapped.

We got a thriller in China as Germany snatched gold from Austria by 0.08 seconds. Natalie Geisenberger and Johannes Ludwig, the two singles champions from Beijing, were overawed by their Austrian counterparts, leaving it down to doubles pairing Tobias Wendl and Tobias Arlt to salvage their dreams.

Wendl and Arlt obliged, quickly turning the clock from red to green as they overcome the Austrians on the final run. Geisenberger’s sixth gold saw her become Germany’s most successful Winter Olympian of all time, thanks to a sneaky bronze at Vancouver 2010, with Wendl and Arlt – who sound destined for a career in slapstick comedy with a name combination like that – also moving onto six golds.

All eyes will be on American veteran Shaun White who will be going for gold in what will be his final Olympics. White has decided to call time on his career after Beijing and will be looking to sign off with a win.

It won’t be easy however with Japan’s Hirano Ayumu and Australian’s Scotty James in fine form during their qualification and both will aiming for gold. Based on the form we have seen so far White’s best hope might well be bronze but it is worth tuning in to find out.

There is a lot to break down in what should be a thrilling event so here’s a few storylines to keep your eye on.

Okay let’s start with Mikaela Shiffrin (anyone surprised?). The American is set to ski in the first of the two speed events after a catastrophic time in the technical events. Shiffrin, who will ski No. 11, is by no means the favourite but such is her talent that she is more than capable of medalling. Can the American turn her games around?

The two favourites are the Italian duo of Federica Brignone, a silver medal winner in the Giant Slalom, and Elena Curtoni the two leaders of the super-G so far this season. Their compatriot Sofia Goggia, third in the standings, has not won her fitness race and will focus instead on the downhill.

The two wildcards come in the form of everyone’s favourite hybrid Ester Ledecka of Czech Republic and New Zealand firecracker Alice Robinson. This is the event Ledecka stunned the world in four years ago in South Korea when she won on borrowed skis and could she do her extraordinary double again having already won parallel giant slalom gold in the snowboarding? Keep an eye on Robinson who is about as raw as it gets on the speed skis. She has barely had any time on them due to outdated FIS rules but the talent is certainly there. She fell way short in her preferred event of the giant slalom, can she turn it around?

All eyes will be on Suzanne Schulting to see if the Dutchwomen can double up after taking gold in the 500m.

There is a tale of redemption at stake as well after Schulting, one of the very best in the world, crashed during the mixed team relay semi-finals. That means that all hopes of a clean sweet are well and truly over.

However Schulting can still have herself a memorable games and the 1000m will be the place to start. Make sure you don’t miss it.

An absolute smorgasboard of British action for you tomorrow and it gets underway bright and early with the men’s round robin curling as Bruce Mouat and his team resume their campaign. They will face the USA (01:05 GMT).

Just 20 minutes after that at 01:30 GMT Laura Deas and Brogan Crowley will be in action in the heats of the women’s skeleton. This will be the first two heats of a total four. The second run will be at 03:00 GMT.

Speaking of which the men will have the final of their four with Marcus Wyatt and Matt Weston are both in action. Run 3 is at 12:20 GMT with Run 4 at 13:55 GMT.

There’s also plenty more curling with Eve Muirhead skippering her crew against South Korea at 06:05 GMT with Mouat’s team returning for a second game at 12:05 GMT, this time against Norway.

And last but certainly not least we have the men’s 15km classic in the cross-country skiing with Andrew Young and Andrew Musgrave both in action. That starts at 07:00 GMT.

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