USA's Nathan Chen competes in the men's single skating short program of the figure skating team event during the Beijing 2022 Winter Olympic Games at the Capital Indoor Stadium in Beijing on Feb 4, 2022. (MANAN VATSYAYANA / AFP)

BEIJING - Three-time world champion Nathan Chen led the figure skating men's singles after the short program here on Friday, while his arch-rival Yuzuru Hanyu of Japan again opted to focus on the individual event at the Beijing Olympic Winter Games.

The American, 22, six-time national champion of the United States in a row, landed three clean jumps, including an opening quadruple flip, a triple Axel and a quad Lutz-triple toeloop, to score 111.71 points for his short program skating to La Boheme in the team event.

The rivalry between Yuzuru Hanyu and Nathan Chen is expected to be one of the highlights of figure skating at Beijing 2022, and Chen hopes that having skated in the team event helps him tune up for the following individual one

Japan's Shoma Uno, the silver medalist of PyeongChang 2018, was the second with 105.46 points, while Olympic athlete from Russia Mark Kondratiuk finished a distant third on 95.81.

Local favorite Jin Boyang, who finished fourth in the individual event four years ago, sat on sixth temporarily with 82.87 points, after being deducted one point for a fall on his second jump, a quadruple toeloop.

""Four years after PyeongChang 2018, I skated again my short program to Crouching Tiger, Hidden Dragon. I feel I'm now more mature, both mentally and technically, and can better understand the music," said Jin.

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The rivalry between Hanyu and Chen is expected to be one of the highlights of figure skating at Beijing 2022, and the American hopes that having skated in the team event helps him tune up for the following individual one.

"It's nice to be able to have run-throughs like this. Whatever you can take from each practice, whether good or bad, you take with you, and that's the same thing with competition," he told a post-match mixed zone.

Yuzuru Hanyu competes during the men's free skating competition of the All-Japan Figure Skating Championships held in Saitama, Japan, Dec 26, 2021. (PHOTO / XINHUA)

Hanyu, who competed in the team event in Sochi in 2014 when the competition was first introduced to the Olympic program, is aiming to become the first man to win three individual Olympic gold medals since Gillis Grafstroem won gold in 1920, 1924 and 1928.

The 27-year-old Japanese did not compete internationally this season after suffering an ankle ligament injury but came back to claim his sixth national title in December.

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Chen has dominated during the past Olympic cycle, winning all three world titles, both Grand Prix Final events and both men's singles competitions at the World Team Trophy.