Latest news with #YTS
USA Today
3 days ago
- Sport
- USA Today
Nathan Chen won't defend skating figure skating gold at 2026 Winter Olympics
Olympic gold medalist figure skater Nathan Chen says he won't defend his title at the 2026 Winter Olympics in Milan and Cortina d'Ampezzo, Italy. Chen won two golds at the 2022 Beijing Games, one in the men's singles and the other in the team event for the United States. Chen told the Los Angeles Times that he has not officially retired from skating, but it's time to move on to other things. "I just want to open doors to kind of see what's the best sort of approach for me," Chen told the Times. "And frankly, at this point in time in my life, I've already accomplished enough in skating that I'm quite satisfied with my career." The 26-year-old has won three world championships and six U.S. titles in his career. Chen, nicknamed the "Quad King" for his quadruple jumps, said he plans to attend medical school, pursue a career in cardiology or oncology and explore their relationship to genetics. 'The basis of being a doctor, I think, is to help people,' Chen said. 'I think that's something that I didn't necessarily feel as an athlete, that I felt was a little bit lacking, and I get a little bit of that sense doing YTS.'
Los Angeles Times
3 days ago
- Sport
- Los Angeles Times
Nathan Chen says he won't defend his Olympic title at Milano Cortina Games
With a camera trailing his every move, Nathan Chen glides across the ice at the same training center that fueled his Olympic dreams. Four years after winning Olympic gold, Chen is still the picture of power and artistry as he picks up speed to round a turn and circles an arm around his head. 'Is this a comeback?' Jean-Luc Baker, a 2022 Olympic ice dancer, playfully asks. The reigning Olympic champion has not skated competitively since Feb. 10, 2022, when Chen landed five clean quadruple jumps to become the seventh U.S. man to win a figure skating singles gold medal. He doesn't intend to change that soon. Six months before the Milano Cortina Olympics, Chen confirmed he will not defend his Olympic title. The two-time Olympic gold medalist hasn't officially retired, but is ready to embark on a new career in medicine. 'I just want to open doors to kind of see what's the best sort of approach for me,' Chen told The Times. 'And frankly, at this point in time in my life, I've already accomplished enough in skating that I'm quite satisfied with my career.' A six-time national champion and three-time world champion, Chen put an exclamation point on his career with a dominant performance in Beijing. He set the world record in the short program. He conquered demons from a 2018 disaster in which he finished fifth to win his first individual Olympic medal. He became the first singles skater in Olympic history with two gold medals in the same Games after helping the United States to a victory in the team competition. Then Chen slipped seamlessly back into life as a student, finishing his bachelor's degree at Yale, where he started before the Games. He began applying to medical schools while helping launch Your True Step, a series of skating seminars with Baker, who placed 11th in the 2022 Olympic ice dance competition with partner Kaitlin Hawayek, and choreographer Sam Chouinard. After giving instruction on and off the ice to roughly two dozen young athletes, the first question Chen received Friday during a post-camp Q&A was about which medical school he was going to attend. Whichever one wants him, Chen responded with a chuckle. Chen, who said taking the medical college admission test was even more nerve-wracking than competing at the Olympics, is interested in cardiology or oncology, specifically related to genetics. He's curious about cardiothoracic surgery, but worried about the potential work-life balance sacrifices. The concern isn't that Chen is scared to dedicate himself completely to a particular job. He just wants his next project to be as fulfilling as skating was. 'The basis of being a doctor, I think, is to help people,' Chen said. 'I think that's something that I didn't necessarily feel as an athlete, that I felt was a little bit lacking, and I get a little bit of that sense doing YTS.' The skating camps, which began in 2024, have brought Chen and Baker to rinks in Irvine, Boston, Detroit and Seattle. They came up with the idea while attending a pre-Olympic camp in 2022 so the longtime friends could remain close to each other and to the sport. Baker, 31, knew the Beijing Games would likely be his last Olympics. Chen wasn't sure at the time. Still only 26, Chen could be entering his physical prime. The sport has remained open to older competitors as technique has progressed. But the window of opportunity to realistically win is small, Chen acknowledged, as athletes push the limits toward jumps that were once unimaginable. Leading up to the 2022 Olympics, Chen dabbled with a quadruple axel during practice, but stopped training it as the Games approached. While he came close to landing it, he was comfortable knowing no one else had the daring jump yet. Only seven months after those Games, Ilia Malinin landed the world's first quadruple axel in competition at 17 years old. Now the favorite for Olympic gold in 2026, the 20-year-old American has won consecutive world championships. While Malinin, who also trains at Irvine's Great Park Ice with Chen's former coach Rafael Arutyunyan, landed six quadruple jumps at the 2025 world championships, Chen watched from afar. The event took place in Boston, where Chen was completing a post-baccalaureate program. Instead of feeling like he was missing out, Chen was relieved he didn't have to feel the stress of competition. He's content to enjoy what could be a golden era of U.S. skating from the sideline. The United States claimed three of four world championships in 2025, the most ever for the country in a single world championship. Alysa Liu made an improbable return from a two-year hiatus to become the first U.S. woman to win the world championship since 2006. Madison Chock and Evan Bates won their third consecutive ice dance world title. Malinin, known as 'the Quad God,' became the first American man to win back-to-back singles world championships since Chen, who won three. Chen, the one-time 'Quad King,' is happy to pass his crown.
The Herald Scotland
28-06-2025
- Entertainment
- The Herald Scotland
I am on 'the fat jab' and I don't care who knows it, says Karen Dunbar
Portobello Town Hall Gayle Anderson Three stars Portobello seemed a fitting place to catch the current Karen Dunbar tour. It's said that the 99 cone was invented just across the road from this venue. The perfect place then for Chewin' the Fat's ice cream van lady to serve up her patter with extra sauce. The epic 80 date tour began in May and ends in November. It's taking the scenic route through Scotland with dates everywhere from the Isle of Skye to Berwick-Upon-Tweed. Karen shadow boxes her way onto the stage to the Theme from Rocky. Physical humour is still her forte and gets the biggest laughs of the night. Doing the Slosh, drunkenly devouring the entire family Sunday roast, bringing Mrs Munro, Chewin' the Fat's nervous biology teacher, back to life – Karen's face isn't just mobile, it's peripatetic. There's honesty throughout this show. One of her best jokes, she admits, was stolen from Lily Savage aka Paul O'Grady. What you see is what you get. And what you see is a little less. Karen also confesses that she's been taking 'the fat jab.' Her description of which is so funny there's a real temptation to follow her example and just nick it. Read more A few bodily function gags turn full bawdily function before we hear about Roberta, the new woman in Karen's life. That's the name she's given the BAFTA she recently received for best supporting actress in a video game. Comedian, writer, actor and DJ – this former YTS worker is a proper Renaissance woman and she's rightly proud of it. A heckler at this point is hit with one of the funniest put-downs I've heard in a long time. Karen's stories – much like this current tour – often go off on wild rambles. Lots of side roads are taken. You're never quite sure where she's going to end up. At times, she seems genuinely surprised herself. Hogmanay parties, community spirit, methods of shopping – things ain't what they used to be and Karen's mining that nostalgia seam for all she's worth. The final part of the show focuses on her TV work. The love and warmth still felt for the characters Karen portrayed is evident as she leads the audience in a rousing game of polish off the punchline. Bob's your uncle and Fanny's your catchphrase – now that's how to work a room.
Wales Online
28-06-2025
- Entertainment
- Wales Online
Popular restaurant in North Wales village expands with new Airbnb
Our community members are treated to special offers, promotions and adverts from us and our partners. You can check out at any time. More info A couple who defied the odds and survived after opening their restaurant not long before Covid struck are expanding with an Airbnb rental. Talented chef Rob Dowell-Brown and his wife, Vicky, who run the Nant y Felin, in Llanrhaeadr YC, between Ruthin and Denbigh, were not eligible for financial support from the Government when the world went into lockdown. But the resourceful duo used the difficulty and weathered the storm by turning their hand to providing greatly appreciated take away meals for the community. Now Vicky has also taken on a two-bedroom apartment, Min y Maes, behind the property, effectively turning Nant y Felin into a restaurant with rooms. Rob, born in Elgin in North East Scotland, has a distinguished CV after working in AA Rosette restaurants in the West Country where he was brought up, the Home Counties, Scotland, the Scilly Isles. More locally, he has also tantalised taste buds at the Kinmel Manor in Abergele and the White Horse, Hendrerewydd, in the Vale of Clwyd. He has cooked for celebrities like John Cleese, Nigel Mansell, Frankie Howerd, Alan Titchmarsh and Maureen Lipman and as a trainee YTS chef was featured on GMTV's breakfast show in the 1990s. He said: 'John Cleese is from Weston Super Mare and Frankie Howerd also lived in Somerset when I was working there – Cleese would often do odd things like wear one sock. I had wanted to be a music teacher but didn't get the grades and when I left school at 16 I started to train as a chef on the Youth Training Scheme (YTS) getting £29.50 a week – my mum took £15. It was a harsh environment but it made me realistic about work – 29 of us started the YTS course and I was one of just three who finished it.' He met Vicky, from Ruthin, while working at the White Horse when she went along with her dad Bryn Dowell, there for an open mic folk music night and the couple – who both play guitar - now have a seven-year-old son, Billy. Things were particularly tough for them when the pandemic happened just over a year after they took over the Nant y Felin in 2018 and before they had the chance to build up the financial records needed to claim Government help. (Image: Mandy Jones) Rob said: 'We didn't really have any option other than to try and make a go of it by offering pizzas made in our proper pizza oven – the garden was overgrown and included three 40-foot leylandii spruce which provided fuel for the oven. We made sure all of our takeaway meals were served hot and to restaurant standard - allowing customers to enjoy a real treat at home when the UK was in lockdown" 'They proved very popular and on Father's Day we served 116 meals and at weekends it would be 70 a night and even in the week we were doing 30 or 40 a day and it's something we have continued ever since. 'We are always keen to try new ideas. We run our own open mic music nights on the third Wednesday of every month and I have been a forager for 20 years, finding edible plants and fungi and have done foraging walks. 'I did one in Denbigh for chef Chris Roberts, the Flamebaster chef on S4C and BBC Wales, and managed to find seven or eight ingredients to go with his open-fire cooking.' Nant y Felin fan Mario Kreft, from Denbigh, and his wife Gill, have a regular order for a takeaway Sunday lunch. He said: 'We discovered Rob's cooking during Covid when we were so busy but couldn't go anywhere and it was such a godsend to be able to enjoy his fantastic food at home on a Sunday after a difficult week. They literally stepped up to the plate, becoming honorary Covid warriors and providing an important community service. 'Rob and Vicky are a brilliant partnership. Their food is wonderful and we've also become regulars at the restaurant.' Vicky added: 'People found out about us in Covid and that got our names out there and that's something we've continued. So we are always looking at ways of increasing our offer so when our landlord, Huw Howatson, said that the two-bedroomed self-catering flat adjoining the restaurant was available Vicky decided to take the plunge and do it up. 'It's now on Airbnb and has hosted its first guest, someone from Canada who has relatives in the area, and we're hoping it will become a destination in its own right perhaps for people who want to go foraging. 'It's dog-friendly and so is the restaurant because it's all about being adaptable to people's needs to make the business more versatile.' Rob said: 'Since taking over at Nant y Felin, we have had to turn our hands to all sorts of things, from plumbing to joinery – I've made a lot of the furniture here and even our latest venture, turning an old fridge into a smoker. 'At the same time we're creating our own eco-system, putting food waste back into the garden whenever possible. 'We've also opened up the bar to customers who just want to come in and have a drink and we're employing 12 people here in the restaurant and most of us speak Welsh. 'Our menu changes virtually daily depending on what our suppliers have for us whether that's Vicky's uncle, Clwyd Dowell, at CLD Meats or the Vale Grocer, both in Denbigh, able to tell us exactly where their produce comes from or our fishmonger in Fleetwood . 'If they've got something special then we adapt the menu accordingly so we believe in using local produce even if we like to give it a twist. The idea is to go back to nature but using my skills as a fine dining chef to create something special.' That's true of Rob's signature dessert with tender young nettle leaves grown in the garden and harvested at the cost of a few stings before being transformed into a trio of nettle cheesecake, topped with a red nettle jelly and accompanied by deep pink nettle sorbet and garnished with ox-eye daisy and blue cornflowers. Vicky added: "The Nant y Felin really has become something very special to us. We are able to provide a service by cooking lovely produce for the local and wider community. 'We're a friendly place for people to just pop in and have a drink in the bar, it's a place where friends come to see us and most importantly, it's home for us, our son, Billy and our two lovely spaniels. 'Building all of this up over the last seven years is an achievement we're proud of and are looking forward to the future of the Nant y Felin." Join the North Wales Live WhatsApp community group where you can get the latest stories delivered straight to your phone
North Wales Live
28-06-2025
- Entertainment
- North Wales Live
Popular restaurant in North Wales village expands with new Airbnb
A couple who defied the odds and survived after opening their restaurant not long before Covid struck are expanding with an Airbnb rental. Talented chef Rob Dowell-Brown and his wife, Vicky, who run the Nant y Felin, in Llanrhaeadr YC, between Ruthin and Denbigh, were not eligible for financial support from the Government when the world went into lockdown. But the resourceful duo used the difficulty and weathered the storm by turning their hand to providing greatly appreciated take away meals for the community. Now Vicky has also taken on a two-bedroom apartment, Min y Maes, behind the property, effectively turning Nant y Felin into a restaurant with rooms. Rob, born in Elgin in North East Scotland, has a distinguished CV after working in AA Rosette restaurants in the West Country where he was brought up, the Home Counties, Scotland, the Scilly Isles. More locally, he has also tantalised taste buds at the Kinmel Manor in Abergele and the White Horse, Hendrerewydd, in the Vale of Clwyd. He has cooked for celebrities like John Cleese, Nigel Mansell, Frankie Howerd, Alan Titchmarsh and Maureen Lipman and as a trainee YTS chef was featured on GMTV's breakfast show in the 1990s. He said: 'John Cleese is from Weston Super Mare and Frankie Howerd also lived in Somerset when I was working there – Cleese would often do odd things like wear one sock. I had wanted to be a music teacher but didn't get the grades and when I left school at 16 I started to train as a chef on the Youth Training Scheme (YTS) getting £29.50 a week – my mum took £15. It was a harsh environment but it made me realistic about work – 29 of us started the YTS course and I was one of just three who finished it.' He met Vicky, from Ruthin, while working at the White Horse when she went along with her dad Bryn Dowell, there for an open mic folk music night and the couple – who both play guitar - now have a seven-year-old son, Billy. Things were particularly tough for them when the pandemic happened just over a year after they took over the Nant y Felin in 2018 and before they had the chance to build up the financial records needed to claim Government help. Rob said: 'We didn't really have any option other than to try and make a go of it by offering pizzas made in our proper pizza oven – the garden was overgrown and included three 40-foot leylandii spruce which provided fuel for the oven. We made sure all of our takeaway meals were served hot and to restaurant standard - allowing customers to enjoy a real treat at home when the UK was in lockdown" 'They proved very popular and on Father's Day we served 116 meals and at weekends it would be 70 a night and even in the week we were doing 30 or 40 a day and it's something we have continued ever since. 'We are always keen to try new ideas. We run our own open mic music nights on the third Wednesday of every month and I have been a forager for 20 years, finding edible plants and fungi and have done foraging walks. 'I did one in Denbigh for chef Chris Roberts, the Flamebaster chef on S4C and BBC Wales, and managed to find seven or eight ingredients to go with his open-fire cooking.' Nant y Felin fan Mario Kreft, from Denbigh, and his wife Gill, have a regular order for a takeaway Sunday lunch. He said: 'We discovered Rob's cooking during Covid when we were so busy but couldn't go anywhere and it was such a godsend to be able to enjoy his fantastic food at home on a Sunday after a difficult week. They literally stepped up to the plate, becoming honorary Covid warriors and providing an important community service. 'Rob and Vicky are a brilliant partnership. Their food is wonderful and we've also become regulars at the restaurant.' Vicky added: 'People found out about us in Covid and that got our names out there and that's something we've continued. So we are always looking at ways of increasing our offer so when our landlord, Huw Howatson, said that the two-bedroomed self-catering flat adjoining the restaurant was available Vicky decided to take the plunge and do it up. 'It's now on Airbnb and has hosted its first guest, someone from Canada who has relatives in the area, and we're hoping it will become a destination in its own right perhaps for people who want to go foraging. 'It's dog-friendly and so is the restaurant because it's all about being adaptable to people's needs to make the business more versatile.' Rob said: 'Since taking over at Nant y Felin, we have had to turn our hands to all sorts of things, from plumbing to joinery – I've made a lot of the furniture here and even our latest venture, turning an old fridge into a smoker. 'At the same time we're creating our own eco-system, putting food waste back into the garden whenever possible. 'We've also opened up the bar to customers who just want to come in and have a drink and we're employing 12 people here in the restaurant and most of us speak Welsh. 'Our menu changes virtually daily depending on what our suppliers have for us whether that's Vicky's uncle, Clwyd Dowell, at CLD Meats or the Vale Grocer, both in Denbigh, able to tell us exactly where their produce comes from or our fishmonger in Fleetwood . 'If they've got something special then we adapt the menu accordingly so we believe in using local produce even if we like to give it a twist. The idea is to go back to nature but using my skills as a fine dining chef to create something special.' That's true of Rob's signature dessert with tender young nettle leaves grown in the garden and harvested at the cost of a few stings before being transformed into a trio of nettle cheesecake, topped with a red nettle jelly and accompanied by deep pink nettle sorbet and garnished with ox-eye daisy and blue cornflowers. Vicky added: "The Nant y Felin really has become something very special to us. We are able to provide a service by cooking lovely produce for the local and wider community. 'We're a friendly place for people to just pop in and have a drink in the bar, it's a place where friends come to see us and most importantly, it's home for us, our son, Billy and our two lovely spaniels. 'Building all of this up over the last seven years is an achievement we're proud of and are looking forward to the future of the Nant y Felin."
