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Salt Lake City's Nathan Chen holds a commanding lead in the junior men's division at the U.S. Figure Skating Championships in Boston, with the decisive free skate scheduled for Thursday at the TD Garden.
The 14-year-old Chen, who placed third at the recent ISU Junior Grand Prix Final last month, scored 79.61 points in the short program Tuesday, far ahead of the second-place skater, who has 63.46 points.
He's obviously a strong contender to represent the United States at the 2018 Pyeongchang Olympics in South Korea.
Chen is one of seven Utah skaters competing at nationals, all of them representing the Salt Lake Figure Skating Club.
Salt Lake's Angela Wang is scheduled to compete in the senior ladies division Thursday and Saturday — she finished sixth at the Junior Grand Prix final — while West Jordan's Kendrick Weston is entered in the intermediate men's division that is contested Thursday and Friday.
Weston was the silver medalist in the juvenile division last year.
Nordic skiing
At Soldier Hollow, Caitlin Gregg won the 20k mass start by nearly four minutes Wednesday at the U.S. Cross Country Ski Championships. It was the fourth career national title for Gregg.
Sylvan Ellefson won his first national gold winning the men's 30k.
The Championships wrap-up Friday with classic sprints. —