Matthew Chen, a rising senior at San Marino High School, has continued his sensational climb in the world of competitive speed skating – a pursuit he shares with older sisters Sarah and Jacqueline.
Last summer, Matthew trained with both the Australian National and JiLin Chinese Provincial and Jr. Chinese National speed skating teams. The latter required an 8-hour per day, six-day per week commitment.
This year, Matthew lost both his coach (who returned to the Netherlands) and training partner (Jacqueline, who began her freshman year at Harvard) but still managed to win his 3rd consecutive California State championship.
At the U.S. nationals, Matthew skated multiple personal best times in both long track and short track speed skating. He won the silver medal in the 1,000-meter short track and won bronze medals in the 1,500-meter short track, the 1,500-meter long track and the 3,000-meter long track – a race that saw him knock off a remarkable 30 seconds from his previous best time.
Matthew also serves as a volunteer coach for elementary and middle school-aged skaters.
This year, Matthew has qualified to skate with the best of the best, including Olympic silver medalists J.R. Celski and Chris Creveling.
The son of Morgan and Julie Chen, Matthew looks forward to trying out for the 2018 Winter Olympics, which will be held in PyeongChang, South Korea.
