US Figure Skating Championships TV Schedule 2018: Saturday Preview, Predictions

Nathan Chen is the man everyone will want to see on Saturday at the United States Figure Skating Championships.

Chen is in a strong position to clinch the Men’s Championship after a fine performance in the short program on Thursday, posting a score of 104.45 in the process. Adam Rippon is the man in closest contention to the 18-year-old, although he is a long way back on 96.52.

Also on the schedule is the conclusion of the Championship Pairs, which is being led by Alexa Scimeca-Knierim and Christopher Knierim. 

Here is the schedule for Saturday’s action from San Jose, the key viewing details and a look at what to expect from the penultimate day of this absorbing event.

Saturday Schedule

Championship Pairs (Free Skate): 2:40 p.m. ET

Championship Men (Free Skate): 7 p.m. ET

TV coverage starts at 8 p.m. ET on NBC

Saturday Preview

It’s been a practically flawless season for Chen, and he’s well on his way to earning his first-ever call-up to the Winter Olympics squad.

The teenager is in irresistible form heading into the conclusion of the Men’s Championship, too, after blowing the competition away with his display in the Short Program. Chen landed two quadruple jumps on his way to a haul of 104.45 points.

As noted by the NBC Olympics Twitter account, the youngster laid down the gauntlet to his competition:

It was a performance that will go some way to cementing Chen’s status as the favourite for gold in Pyeongchang, South Korea, next month. However, he’ll be keen to keep the momentum up with a victory here.

While Chen admitted his preparations for Thursday weren’t ideal due to illness and injury, according to journalist Jackie Wong he was looking sharp in practice:

Chen’s dominance means the most exciting battle on Saturday may be for the podium places, with Jason Brown and Rippon jostling for second spot.

For Rippon, in particular, it’s a huge day as he’ll be hoping to finally secure a spot on an Olympic team. The 28-year-old missed out in 2010 and 2014, and as noted by Nick Zaccardi of NBC Sports, if he were to be selected on Sunday, he’d be the oldest U.S. Olympic rookie singles skater since 1936.

"I’m waiting for my day of reckoning," he said, per the same piece. "I’m here for that drama. This is the first step that I needed to take to have that amazing comeback that I felt like I was going to have."

Matthew Stockman/Getty Images

As we can see courtesy of journalist Nick McCarvel, Rippon has previously discussed how much it would mean to him to be on the plane to South Korea:

Earlier in the day, the Knierims will be keen to secure the solitary Olympics spot available to pairs competitors. They posted 71.10 in the short program.

The husband-and-wife duo missed the Championships a year ago, with Alexa suffering injury issues. Despite recovering and getting so close to the Winter Olympics, she insisted they’re not getting their hopes up quite yet.

"I’m not even focusing really on the Olympic team or the Olympic spot, I’m just focusing on being able to skate with Chris at another U.S. Championships," Scimeca-Knierim told NBCSN (h/t Rachel Lutz of NBC Olympics). "We’re just here for the gift of skating, it changes our perspective completely."

Tarah Kayne and Danny O’Shea are in closest pursuit after lodging 68.93. They will be keen to make up for their disappointment here last year, when Kayne suffered a concussion and they were forced to pull out after leading the short program.