The United States takes the lead after the first day of snowboarding’s teams competition at the Beijing Winter Olympics.
At Friday’s opening, the 10 teams started with a short program for men, doubles and ice, and the first rehearsal was for the Americans, winning two numbers and finishing third.
In the men’s parade, Nathan Chen delivered the best short program of his career, scoring 111.71 points, only 11 centuries worse than Japan’s Hango Gozoro world record. In Ice Dancing, Madison Hubbell and Zachary Donohue ran superbly and led the way, while duo Alexa Knierim and Brandon Frazier provided the third best production.
The Americans lead with 28 points, two points ahead of the first-placed Russians, who took second and third places. From third place, the 21-point host Chinese team is looking forward to Sunday’s completion. The stellar standing of the Asian country group is mainly due to Su Wenzhou’s husband, Han Cung, who produced the best short program in the field.
On Sunday, a short program of women’s and men’s freestyle will follow at the Budapest Indoor Stadium, and on Monday there will be free skating for couples, ice dancers and women.
