Big Announcement! - 2026 Honoree Nathan Chen

✍ A message from our Founder & Artistic Director, Moira North:

Special Announcement! 

Over the last 17 days of the Milano Cortina 2026 Winter Olympic Games, we have reflected joyfully on some of the most beautiful partnerships Ice Theatre of New York has shared with Olympic artists through this editorial series.

But as much fun as that's been, the future is even more exciting.

So it is with great enthusiasm that I announce Ice Theatre of New York's 2026 honoree: Nathan Chen, the three-time World Champion and two-time 2022 Olympic gold medalist!

Nathan Chen will be honored at our annual gala on May 4th, and you are cordially invited to join us for a dazzling evening celebrating artistry, athleticism, and the skating community.

Nathan has shared a longtime association with us, his first coach, Stephanee Grosscup, was an early ITNY performer. Stephanee was the recipient of our 2018 alumni award and will be a co-chair of our upcoming gala!

We are thrilled to welcome Nathan Chen to our Hall of Honorees!

 

-Moi

P.S. - Unable to attend the gala? You can still support Ice Theatre of New York by placing an ad in our 2026 Benefit Journal, or simply making a donation!

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Nathan Chen: "I just loved being at the rink. It was fun."

It was a brisk February night in Beijing, and dressed in understated black, he moved with a calm that felt almost defiant.

Nathan Chen stood at center ice inside the Capital Indoor Stadium, waiting for the opening notes of Elton John’s “Rocket Man.” When the music began, there was no visible strain, no outward drama. Only velocity, precision, and the unmistakable sound of blades carving deep, assured edges across Olympic ice.

“I don’t think there’s ever been a skater with this kind of technical arsenal,” Olympic champion and ITNY Lifetime Achievement honoree Scott Hamilton observed during Nathan’s competitive peak, referring to his command of the quadruple jumps that redefined the men’s field.

Nathan’s relationship with his audience has always been grounded in respect rather than theatrics. He does not reach for attention; he earns it. When he lands a jump, there is a split second of stillness before applause detonates. The performance grows outward from that point. Even at his most decorated, his demeanor has suggested a student of the sport rather than a star intoxicated by it.

Born in Salt Lake City, Utah, in 1999, Nathan was the youngest of five children in a Chinese-American family that valued education as much as ambition. He began skating at age three, following his siblings onto the ice. His early coaches quickly noticed a rare aptitude for rotation and body awareness. By ten, he was landing triple jumps with consistency; by thirteen, he had won the U.S. Junior title.

“I just loved being at the rink,” Nathan has said of those formative years. “It was fun.”

That sense of internal motivation carried him through a demanding competitive ascent. At the 2017 U.S. Championships, Nathan became the first skater to land five quadruple jumps in one program, a technical milestone that shifted expectations for the entire discipline. The following year, at the 2018 Winter Olympics in PyeongChang, he arrived as a gold-medal favorite.

The short program unraveled. A missed combination and other errors left him seventeenth. For many athletes, that kind of public setback at age eighteen might have lingered for years. Nathan responded the next evening with a free skate that included six quadruple jumps, vaulting him to fifth overall. It was a performance less about placement than about resolve.

“I just wanted to skate the way I know I can,” he said afterward.

In the seasons that followed, Nathan assembled one of the most dominant competitive runs in men’s skating history. He won five consecutive U.S. titles from 2017 through 2022. He captured three World Championships in 2018, 2019, and 2021. Judges rewarded not only his jump content but also his expanding range as a performer.

Programs to Philip Glass and Charles Aznavour revealed musical nuance that critics once wondered whether a quad specialist could cultivate.

Off the ice, Nathan enrolled at Yale University in 2018, balancing coursework with international travel and training. He deferred semesters around Olympic cycles, returning to campus between competitions. Education was never presented as a backup plan. It was an integral part of his identity.

When the Beijing Olympics arrived in 2022, Nathan carried both expectation and memory. In the team event, he delivered a clean short program that set a world-record score. Days later, he opened his individual short program with a quadruple flip and did not relinquish control. By the time he completed “Rocket Man” in the free skate—with five clean quadruple jumps—the outcome was settled.

He won the Olympic gold medal by more than twenty points.

Afterward, Nathan spoke quietly about redemption, though he resisted framing Beijing as a correction of his mistakes in PyeongChang. “I’m grateful for everything that happened,” he said. The earlier disappointment had sharpened his competitive clarity. He no longer skated to prove worth; he skated to execute.

Nathan has expressed admiration for the generation before him, including Olympic champion and ITNY honoree Evan Lysacek, while also acknowledging how the technical ceiling continues to rise. His own ceiling, once thought defined by the number of quads in a program, expanded into artistry and composure.

We are thrilled for Nathan Chen to be our 2026 Ice Theatre of New York Honoree!

This program is supported, in part, by the New York State Council on the Arts with the support of Governor Kathy C. Hochul and the New York State Legislature. ITNY is also supported by the New York City Department of Cultural Affairs, in partnership with the City Council, and NYC Council Members Abreu, Bottcher, Powers and Marte. ITNY's Manhattan programming is funded in part by a grant from the New York City Tourism Foundation.

Additionally, ITNY receives funding from Bloomberg Philanthropies, The Daniel & Corrine Cichy Memorial Foundation,The Lisa McGraw Figure Skating Foundation, the Will Sears Foundation, and its generous private patrons.

Photo credit Stephanee Grosscup, Robin Ritoss