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Salt Lake’s Nathan Chen to be featured in Super Bowl Sunday commercial that hints at his roots on the ice

Figure skater, 18, is expected to be a gold-medal frontrunner.

Nathan Chen performs during the men's free skate event at the U.S. Figure Skating Championships in San Jose, Calif., Saturday, Jan. 6, 2018. (AP Photo/Ben Margot)

There will be a familiar face during one of the several commercial breaks in Sunday’s Super Bowl.

Salt Lake City’s Nathan Chen, the 18-year-old figure skating phenomenon who is expected to make his Olympic debut in Pyeongchang, South Korea, next week, will be showcased in a minutelong commercial marketing the 2018 Olympic Winter Games for NBC.

The commercial shows Chen stepping out onto the ice at the conclusion of a hockey practice, warming up for a routine that features one of his signature moves that very well could land him on the Olympic podium in a few weeks — the quadruple jump. No skater ever has landed as many quads in a program as Chen, the two-time reigning U.S. national champion.

His introduction to the ice did not come in figure skating boots, but rather on ice hockey blades. Chen wanted to be a hockey player as a toddler, following in the footsteps of his two older brothers who played recreationally in Salt Lake. He learned to skate at the Salt Lake City Sports Complex, which served as the practice rink for the 2002 Olympic Games.

“I do know that he was heavily motivated by my brothers and the hockey they played,” his sister Alice Chen said recently.

Chen’s mother, Hetty Wang, said it was hockey that captivated his attention as a youngster. Wang said when Chen watched his older brothers in hockey practice, he begged his mother to let him try it out. She promised once summer ended and all of his older siblings returned to school, he’d be able to give it a go.

“I just took him to the rink because he didn’t have anything to do,” Wang said.

Growing up in Salt Lake, Chen was involved with ice hockey, figure skating, gymnastics and eventually ended up at the prestigious Ballet West Academy. Being multidimensional undoubtedly aided in his rise to figure skating stardom.

In a tweet posted Tuesday morning, Chen wrote, “I’ve put in the work. Now I’m ready for the lights.”

More than 111 million people watched last year’s Super Bowl. The lights, a little more than a week away from the 2018 Games, are definitely on Salt Lake City’s skating star.