Nathan Chen glides into UBS Arena

Olympic figure skating gold medalist Nathan Chen is truly doing backflips over his latest endeavor.

Airborne acrobatics go with the territory as a cast member of the 2022 "Stars on Ice" tour gliding into the UBS Arena at Belmont Park on Sunday. 

“Backflips are certainly not OK in competition, but we’re allowed to do a little bit more fun moves in shows,” says Chen, whose command of quadruple jumps has earned him the title of Quad King. 

“Backflips are easier than quads,” he says. (In case you’re inclined to give one a go.)

Chen, who turns 23 on May 5, was just 10 years old when he started racking up skating titles. Winning Olympic gold in the men’s singles skate and helping to pull off a silver medal Team USA victory at the Beijing Games in February are shiny testaments to his triumphs.

A Russian Olympic Committee doping scandal nixed a medal ceremony to mark America’s team win, but it doesn’t dull the achievement. “I’m really proud of the way we competed and held ourselves,” he says. “Of course, it was difficult to see my teammates leave without a medal.”

On Sunday, Chen’s "Stars on Ice" team features an array of Olympians including Madison Hubbell, Zachary Donohue, Jason Brown and Alysa Liu.

Chen will skate with the entire cast in group numbers bookending the show. AC/DC’s rousing “Thunderstruck” gets things started and an Elton John medley wraps the show.

Group skating presents unique challenges, according to Chen. “As single skaters we’re trained to be unique on the ice,” he says. “In this case, we don’t want to stand out. At the same time, we’re riffing off each other and having a good time.”

Chen skates solo to “Space Song” as well as Taron Egerton’s take on “Rocket Man.” The Elton John classic has become a Chen signature and a metaphor for his astronomical success.

The Olympic champion has lost count of how many times he’s listened to the words of the song but he finds it exhilarating every time. “I wouldn't necessarily say that any specific lyric calls to me,” he says. “It’s the energy the whole song generates for me.”

Following the tour's stop at the Elmont venue, Chen and company head to 14 more cities including his hometown of Salt Lake City on May 18 (“It’ll be wonderful to be back,” he says) before wrapping the run May 29 in Portland, Oregon.

Life on a bus “isn’t particularly glamorous,” says Chen, adding that he and fellow performers “are all really close friends. We’re not really huge party animals or anything.”

In August Chen starts his junior year at Yale, where he’s studying statistics and data science. But before he cracks the books, he’s planning a vacation with his family. “We’re still figuring it out, but it’ll likely be somewhere in the U.S.”

When it comes to his competitive skating future, he says he’s doing some “soul-searching” before determining what’s next. “I’m just taking things one day at a time.”