SI:AM | Nathan Chen's World-Record Skate

Plus: a new Olympic record in speed skating, the curious case of Eileen Gu and more.

Good morning. I’m Dan Gartland, here with more news from Beijing as the Olympics carry on.

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Nathan Chen bounces back in Beijing

Erick W. Rasco/Sports Illustrated

Four years ago in PyeongChang, American figure skater Nathan Chen, then 18 years old, was the favorite to take home gold in the individual men’s event but had an uncharacteristically poor performance in the short program and finished 17th. His first-place finish in the free skate catapulted him to fifth overall, but the individual Olympic medal eluded him.

These Olympics in Beijing are a different story, though. Chen is well on his way to winning gold after dominating the short program. His routine earned him a score of 113.97, a new world record in the short program. (You can watch his full skate here.) Chen now holds the world record in the short program, free skate and combined score.

The job isn’t done, though. Chen still has to follow through with a strong performance in the free skate Thursday to secure the gold. As Stephanie Apstein writes, it’s all about trying to maintain focus between now and then:

“Athletes often speak of trying to control what they can control, and Chen is hyperfocused on that idea right now. He left his personal cellphone at home and speaks to only a limited circle on his burner phone. He spends downtime practicing the guitar. … The upside of his performance on Tuesday is nearly everything. The downside is that he now has to spend two days thinking about maintaining his lead.”

Elsewhere at the Olympics:

• California-born Eileen Gu won gold in the women’s big air skiing competition with this double cork 1620. But Gu isn’t representing the U.S.—she’s skiing for China, where her mother was born. It’s a tricky situation for an 18-year-old, as Michael Rosenberg writes: “Gu got her gold medal and China got its pawn. It is not clear whether Gu fully understands how thoroughly she is being used.”
• Chen wasn’t the only guy to break a record today on the ice. Dutch speed skater Thomas Krol set a new Olympic record in the men’s 1,500m with a time of 1:43.55, but incredibly, it wasn’t enough to win gold. His teammate Kjeld Nuis (the world-record holder) was even faster in the next heat, clocking in at 1:43.21. Krol had to settle for silver.
• Cross-country skier Jessie Diggins won the United States’ first-ever medal (bronze) in a sprint event.
• Ester Ledecká of the Czech Republic, who in 2018 became the first woman to medal in both skiing and snowboarding at the same Olympics, repeated as gold medalist in the snowboard parallel giant slalom.

The best of Sports Illustrated

Mark Konezny/USA TODAY Sports (Smith); Sam Navarro/USA TODAY Sports (Tagovailoa); Cincinnati Enquirer/USA TODAY Sports (Carr)

Albert Breer isn’t quite sure why the Texans landed on Lovie Smith as their new coach:

“At the very least, the Texans just interviewed and subsequently hired an internal candidate who first came on the team’s head-coaching radar a full four weeks after their season ended, and who just worked under the head coach that was fired. That alone makes this one a head-scratcher, to put it mildly.”

Richard Johnson thinks the solution to NFL and college football coaching diversity is easy: Hire more Black coaches. … What does Kyler Murray’s scrubbing the Cardinals from his social media really mean? Conor Orr tries to make sense of it. … Devin Hester says he’s the best returner ever. Mitch Goldich assesses what that means to his Hall of Fame case “when special teams don’t feel special anymore.”

Around the sports world

The Blazers are reportedly closing in on a deal with the Pelicans that would send C.J. McCollum to New Orleans. … In response to disproportionate injury rates, the NFL has issued a “significant call to action” to make special teams plays safer. … Because of the MLB lockout, the league has stopped testing players for performance-enhancing drugs. … Ticket prices for the Super Bowl are outrageous. The worst seat in the house is going for $6,000. … A Russian Olympic Committee athlete shared a photo of the terrible food she was served in quarantine. … West Ham United condemned defender Kurt Zouma after video emerged of him kicking his cat, but police won’t investigate the incident. 

The top 5…

… non-Olympic plays from last night:

5. R.J. Barrett’s behind-the-back dribble

4. Donovan Mitchell’s windmill dunk that put a fork in the Knicks

3. Luguentz Dort’s putback dunk over Steph Curry

2. Reece Beekman’s three-pointer with under a second remaining to lift unranked Virginia over No. 7 Duke at Cameron Indoor Stadium

1. The frantic finish to the Mercer-Chattanooga men’s hoops game 

SIQ

The first NFL draft was held on this day in 1936 at the Ritz-Carlton in Philadelphia. The league’s nine teams picked nine players each for a total of 81 selections. Who did the Eagles take with the first pick?

• Paul “Bear” Bryant
• Riley Smith
• Jay Berwanger
• Joe Stydahar

Check tomorrow's newsletter for the answer.

Yesterday’s SIQ: Who are the only two men to win a Heisman Trophy and then start at quarterback for a Super Bowl–winning team?

Answer: Roger Staubach (Super Bowl VI and XII) and Jim Plunkett (Super Bowl XV and XVIII). Paul Hornung won the Heisman as a quarterback at Notre Dame but played running back for the Packers. And, while Hornung did participate in the three NFL championship games Green Bay won during his career, he missed Super Bowl I with a neck injury. Cam Newton is the only other Heisman-winning QB to play in a Super Bowl. Chris Weinke and Matt Leinart were backups.

From the Vault

Bob Rosato/Sports Illustrated

The Feb. 8, 1999, issue of Sports Illustrated looks a lot like other ones from around this time of year. John Elway landed on the cover after leading the Broncos to their second straight Super Bowl title. But in the upper righthand corner of the page you’ll see something that might seem out of place: our NBA season preview. That’s because the lockout had finally ended after more than six months and the league was set to begin a truncated 50-game season. The subheadline to the preview package references the NBA’s “alienated fans,” which makes me immediately think of the current MLB lockout. Let’s hope baseball players and owners agree to a new CBA quicker than their NBA counterparts did 23 years ago.