The American city is in the running to stage the Games in either 2030 or 2034 after being put forward as a candidate for both by the United States Olympic and Paralympic Committee (USOPC).

The USOPC has suggested in the past that staging the event in 2034 would be its preference but has not ruled out the possibility of holding the Games in 2030 - just two years after the Los Angeles 2028 Summer Olympics.

A decision on the hosting rights was due to be made at this year’s International Olympic Committee Session in Mumbai but is now likely to be delayed until 2024 when the 2034 Winter Olympics could also be chosen.

Japanese city Sapporo had been the IOC’s first choice for 2030 but the bid has been "paused" due to escalating public anger following a bribery scandal involving Tokyo 2020.

With a bid from Vancouver lacking the support of either the Provincial or State Government, it seems to leave Salt Lake City as the last choice.

Chen, who was born and brought up in the Utahn capital, said he was confident his home city would be able to step into the breach should the IOC opt to award them the 2030 hosting rights.

"Absolutely, we certainly have the capability of doing it in either 2030 or 2034," Chen told insidethegames.

"But ultimately we will work together with the Salt Lake [Bid Committee] Board and see what are the best options.

"It’s great that we have the developed infrastructure that is already in place, so it makes a lot of sense to bring it back to Salt Lake City."

Chen is a triple world champion and three-time Olympic medallist, winning men’s singles gold at Beijing 2022.

The 23-year-old said he was inspired to take up figure skating when Salt Lake City last staged the Winter Olympics in 2002 and believes hosting the Games again would have a similar impact on youngsters.

"I am really passionate about bringing the Olympics back to Salt Lake City," said Chen.

"I think we have great infrastructure already built in and 2002 is something that spurred me on to get into the Olympics and clearly has a very large community aspect.

"It gave me as a young three-year-old kid the motivation, drive and inspiration to want to go to an Olympics myself.

"Having an Olympics in a home town of a lot of young athletes can be very inspiring so I think having an opportunity to bring it back to Salt Lake City could be huge."

Chen was speaking during his visit to the Lake Placid 2023 International University Sports Federation Winter World University Games.

The figure skater, who is studying a statistics and data science degree at Yale University, said he was a big fan of the World University Games.

"It’s great," said Chen, who presented medals at the ice dance and men’s and women’s singles competitions this weekend.

"It’s a huge honour to be here and really cool to see such high level skating and other sports.

"I love that this is a college inspired movement and FISU is university wide which incorporates academia.

"For us to get educated and continue finding career paths outside of sport and utilise sport as a really great platform to grow as individuals is awesome.

"I have been really impressed with what FISU has been doing here and I am hoping to see more collegiate engagement in the US."

Chen also gave a presentation on "Panasonic - Creating a Greener More Equitable Future" at the FISU World Conference in Lake Placid.