KANSAS CITY, Mo. (AP) – The pain in his hip is gone. All that’s left is a surgical screw and a scar.
Nathan Chen hardly thinks about it these days, when he’s gliding over the fresh ice in training or competition. The next big thing in American figure skating doesn’t worry about it while he’s taking off for one of his myriad quads, or that triple axel that causes him so much vexation.
It’s been a year, after all. A lot has happened.
“Now, it’s totally fine,” he said, while preparing for this week’s U.S. championships at the Sprint Center in Kansas City, “but it’s really difficult when you’re injured for worlds or something big. But I think that being able to overcome that makes you stronger.”
Yes, that’s exactly what the 17-year-old prodigy has done: He’s come back stronger.