Nathan Chen won't defend skating figure skating gold at 2026 Winter Olympics
- U.S. gold medalist figure skater Nathan Chen says he won't defend his title at the 2026 Winter Olympics.
- Chen told the Los Angeles Times that he has not officially retired from skating, but it's time to move on to other things.
- Chen won two golds at the 2022 Beijing Games, one in the men's singles and the other in the team event.
Olympic gold medalist figure skater Nathan Chen says he won't defend his title at the 2026 Winter Olympics in Milan and Cortina d'Ampezzo, Italy.
Chen won two golds at the 2022 Beijing Games, one in the men's singles and the other in the team event for the United States.
Chen told the Los Angeles Times that he has not officially retired from skating, but it's time to move on to other things.
"I just want to open doors to kind of see what's the best sort of approach for me," Chen told the Times. "And frankly, at this point in time in my life, I've already accomplished enough in skating that I'm quite satisfied with my career."
The 26-year-old has won three world championships and six U.S. titles in his career.
Chen, nicknamed the "Quad King" for his quadruple jumps, said he plans to attend medical school, pursue a career in cardiology or oncology and explore their relationship to genetics.
“The basis of being a doctor, I think, is to help people,” Chen said. “I think that’s something that I didn’t necessarily feel as an athlete, that I felt was a little bit lacking, and I get a little bit of that sense doing YTS.”