Elton John Salutes Gold Medal Winner Nathan Chen For His Soaring Figure Skating Triumph To ‘Rocket Man’

For figure skater Nathan Chen, it truly was a “long, long time” to his touchdown moment in his gold medal free skate to Elton John’s song, “Rocket Man.”

After a disappointing showing at the previous Winter Olympics in 2018, where he missed many jumps and fell out of individual medal contention, Chen redeemed himself with his Beijing performance to capture gold.

Today at Capital Indoor Stadium, Chen produced an electrifying free skate, becoming the seventh American man and first Asian American to win Olympic gold in men’s figure skating. The 22-year-old from Salt Lake City, Utah had one fan in particular watching – the man who wrote the songs he was performing to, Elton John.

Today, John recognized the achievement in a Twitter post, capping a remarkable comeback story for Chen. Watch his full performance here and Elton John’s salute below.

Congratulations @nathanwchen for winning Gold skating to Rocket Man in the free skate finals in Beijing 🥇 pic.twitter.com/c9C2Kc3zti

— Elton John (@eltonofficial) February 10, 2022