Beijing (AFP) - Strongly fancied Nathan Chen laid old demons to rest with a blistering start to his Olympics campaign in Beijing on Friday, as the figure skating competition kicked off.
The American scored a personal best to beat Japan's Shoma Uno into second place in the men's single short programme of the teams event.
The score of 111.71 was just 0.11 points off the highest score ever for a short programme -- which is held by Uno's compatriot Yuzuru Hanyu, Chen's main rival in the individual event.
Chen, who had a disastrous short programme at the 2018 Pyeongchang Olympics that dashed his hopes of gold, was asked Friday if he had now banished those bitter memories.
"You learn the most from your mistakes," the 22-year-old said.
"I don't think I'd be able to be here where I am now without having had that experience...rather than that being a demon I think that was a very helpful learning experience."
'Genuinely happy'
The 2018 singles silver medallist Uno, wearing a flaming red shirt, scored 105.46 for his controlled performance to an oboe concerto, also a personal best.
But it was not enough to beat Chen, who was magnetic waltzing across the ice to Charles Aznavour's "La Boheme".
Russia's European champion, Mark Kondratiuk, was third.
Chen is not getting carried away yet.
"I might not be the most emotive person, but deep down I'm genuinely happy," he added.
Chen said he would not attend the opening ceremony later Friday, in part because of Covid-19 fears.
"You know, there’s close proximity with a lot of people.Certainly, I’m sure it will be safe but just...I compete in a couple more days, so at this point I’m focusing on that," he said.
The men's individual event starts on February 8.
Two-time defending champion Hanyu was not in the teams event and has not been seen in public in Beijing, but the Japanese Skating Federation tweeted a video of him promising to perform a quadruple axel at the Games.
No skater has ever landed one in competition.
Asked about Hanyu's pledge, Chen said he was "honoured to be alive at the same time as him".
"It's pretty crazy what he's doing...It's been a really great adventure and journey for me to have someone like him to share the ice with."
- Home stars set new record –
The Capital Indoor Stadium was mostly empty, with about 300 spectators tepidly cheering the skaters on, sitting a seat apart from each other.
The Games are happening inside a "closed loop" system in line with China's zero-Covid policy and tickets were not released for public sale -- those present were selected by organisers.
Unsurprisingly, they showed most interest in the host nation's skaters -- chanting "Han and Sui, come on!" when the Chinese pairs team entered the rink.
Han Cong and Sui Wenjing did not disappoint, setting a new world record of 82.83 and looking extremely comfortable as they swept across the ice to the score from a "Mission Impossible" film.
"I think we did our best and I think our hard work has paid off," Sui said afterwards, but added that their coach had told them to relax more next time.
"We want to thank our fans for your consistent support for us," said Han."Consider this a (new year) gift to all the Chinese people."
The record they broke had previously belonged to the runners-up, Anastasia Mishina and Aleksandr Galliamov of the Russian Olympic Committee (ROC).
Team USA came third in pairs but placed first in the rhythm dance section.
They are currently in the overall lead, followed by ROC and China, with three of eight events now finished.
"I don’t think we were surprised to be leading, looking at our roster," said team member Evan Bates.
The other team events will take place on Sunday and Monday.
