Daily Times

WINNIPEG: Reigning three-time world champion Nathan Chen winning his fifth Skate America crown could be the closest thing to a safe bet this weekend as figure skating’s international elite launch their 2022 Olympic season campaigns in Las Vegas.With the Winter Games in Beijing just over 100 days away, the seemingly unbeatable US athlete will be looking to extend his global winning streak against top challengers Japanese Shoma Uno, the 2018 Olympic silver medallist, and fellow American Vincent Zhou.Chen routinely executes five quadruple jumps in his long programme. Uno and Zhou are also capable of executing multiple quads, but Chen’s unmatched consistency has made him all but invincible in the three years since he settled for fifth place in 2018 Olympic Games competition.Zhou, the 2019 world bronze medallist who sank to 25th place last March, comes to Skate America fresh off a win at the last chance Olympic qualifier in Germany.

In women’s competition, 2021 world bronze medallist Alexandra Trusova, of Russia, will be counting on her own arsenal of quadruple jumps to prevail over fellow podium contenders Kaori Sakamoto and Satoko Miyahara, of Japan, and South Koreans Kim Ye-Lim and You Young.Russians are also frontrunners in the pairs event. Veterans EvgeniaTarasova and Vladimir Morozov and young compatriots Aleksandra Boikova and DmitriiKozlovskii, the 2021 world bronze medallists, are expected to battle for gold.Skate America is the first of six events in the ISU Grand Prix series.