Yuzuru Hanyu Commands the Stage. Nathan Chen Falls Off It.<br />But Chen, who has been the most accomplished performer of quadruple jumps in the field, fell on his opening quad lutz on Friday, stumbled out of a triple axel<br />and did not complete two jumps in combination, which is required.<br />A week ago, in his short program in the team competition, Chen fell on a triple axel<br />and completed only two revolutions on a planned four-revolution jump.<br />PYEONGCHANG, South Korea — On Friday, the short program in men’s Olympic figure skating answered two urgent questions<br />about recovery — one from a recent case of nerves, the other from an extended absence because of injury.<br />It would be nice to see that from a few guys, to kind of raise the roof.”<br />Here’s how the men’s figure skating short program unfolded:<br />The first American to take the ice is Vincent Zhou, 17.<br />But Yuzuru Hanyu, 23, the defending Olympic champion from Japan, competing for the first time in nearly four months<br />because of an ankle injury, skated a performance of great technical skill, languid beauty and strategic cleverness.<br />He fell on his triple axel but took first place after 12 skaters with a score of 85.11 points.
