Who Is Nathan Chen? 18-Year-Old Skating Champion To Compete In 2018 Olympics

"Really, I'm just a normal kid," said 18-year-old Nathan Chen, from Salt Lake City, Utah, as he won the 2018 United States Figure Skating Championship held in San Jose, California, on Saturday. With this win, he will represent the U.S. in the 2018 Winter Olympics scheduled to be held in Pyeongchang, South Korea, along with veteran skaters Adam Rippon and Vincent Zhou.

The Pyeongchang games begin Feb. 9 and feature a wide range of sports including archery, basketball, boxing, swimming, skating, cycling, football, hockey, volleyball, shooting, among others.

Speaking to ABC News on Monday, Chen said: "It's so exciting. Regardless of what I do, no matter how good it is, it's never in my mind flawless. You know there are always things that I can improve on.”

With his victory in the National Championship on Saturday, Chen became the first skater in the history to land five quadruple jumps in a single program.

According to Chen, landing the jumps were the most enjoyable moments of skating for him.

“It's hard to find that feeling anywhere, honestly,” said Chen, adding he had been working really hard on improving his skating skills over the past couple of years.

Chen also said he made a handful of errors in his performances, which he plans to work on before the Olympics.

“Mistakes like that are costly. There will be some edits, I think, to the long program depending on how training goes, depending on how my body goes. I have this plan for myself and I think it’s a strong one.” Chen said, according to a Wall Street Journal report.

Talking about his dream to participate in the Olympics, Chen said: “It’s been a fun journey since 2002. This is exactly where I wanted to be; this is all that I dreamed of. I’m really happy that I took all the right steps. I put the work in to get myself to where I am now. It’s all happening so fast. It seems like it was yesterday that I first stepped onto the ice. I still need time to wrap my head around everything, but I’m so happy with everything that’s already happened.”

He said he was barely three years old when he started watching the Olympic Games.

“That was my dream. I really wanted to make that happen but I didn't think it would be possible, really. I thought 2022 would be more realistic,” Chen said.

As of now, Chen, whose complete attention was on his debut in the Olympics, said he was focusing on one skill at a time.

"It happens in a blink of an eye and so you really just have to try to savor every second,” he said.