US Figure Skating Championships 2019: Sunday TV Schedule, Top Contenders

Nathan Chen is in prime position to make it three golds in a row at the United States Figure Skating Championships, as he dominated the field on Saturday.

The 19-year-old was exceptional in his short program routine, with a points haul of 113.42 putting him comfortably ahead of the rest of the field. Chen's nearest challenger heading into Sunday's skating is Jason Brown, who put up a score of 100.52.

It means the rest of the field has a lot of work to do and will need an error from the defending champion if he's to let this one slip.

Here is the schedule in full for the final day of action at the 2019 nationals and a preview of what's to come from Little Caesars Arena in Detroit.

U.S. Figure Skating Championships Sunday Schedule

3:30 p.m.: Men's Free Skate

8 p.m.: Skating Spectacular

All times ET. Event will be broadcast live on NBC. The full competition schedule can be found here.

Sunday Preview

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The last of the medals at this year's U.S. Figure Skating Championships will be dished out on Sunday. Barring something remarkable, it seems certain where the gold will be going.

Chen was always going to be the star attraction at this competition, and he delivered on that billing with a sublime routine on Saturday. As this footage from after his short program illustrates, those in attendance were thrilled by his display:

Former U.S. champion Karen Chen expressed her admiration via social media:

The world champion showed off a triple axel, a quad flip and quad toe loop plus triple toe loop in his outing.

That culminated in a score of 113.42, which represents an improvement on his short program score from the previous two years. Ominously for the rest of the field, he appears to be getting even better.

"Everything that I've done, good and bad, in the past stays in the past," he said after the short program, per the Associated Press (h/t ESPN.com). "Every nationals is a challenge, so I'm glad I skated the way I did. ... Overall, I thought the performance has been developing comparatively to the past couple of competitions, so I'm pretty satisfied."

DAVID GANNON/Getty Images

Chen picked up 15.4 points for the quad flip in his routine, and it was a facet of his skate that impressed broadcaster Julie Stewart-Binks:

Given Chen has dominated the free skate in the past two years, for him to falter on Sunday would be a huge surprise. It means those chasing drama on the final day may need to look to the minor medals.

Brown is in second spot, although he's just 0.27 clear of Vincent Zhou, who is occupying the bronze medal position. Tomoki Hiwatashi is in fourth and has plenty of ground to make up if he's to stand on the rostrum on Sunday; he's back on 84.05 after the halfway point of the competition.