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Rachel Flatt, Mirai Nagasu are headed to Olympics after 1-2 finish at U.S. Figure Skating Championships
24.01.2010 by
Rachel Flatt, Mirai Nagasu are headed to Olympics after 1-2 finish at U.S. Figure Skating Championships
Rachel Flatt, 2010 US National Figure Skating champion
SPOKANE, WASH. -- On a night of shattering nerves and incredibly high stakes, two high school girls stood up to the pressure and stayed on their feet, clinching Olympic slots while ensuring that Sasha Cohen's comeback after a four-year absence from figure skating competition came to a sudden and painful conclusion.
Mirai Nagasu
Rachael Flatt, 17, and Mirai Nagasu, 16, ended the U.S. Figure Skating Championships with triumphant performances in Saturday's long program, finishing first and second overall. Their efforts won them trips to the February Olympics in Vancouver while blunting a thrilling comeback by Alexandria's Ashley Wagner, 18, who executed an enthralling free skate but ended up just shy of an Olympic spot.
Cohen, 25, meantime, dropped to fourth place after one fall and several obvious mistakes. She had started the night in second behind Nagasu.
"It wasn't the skate I wanted," Cohen said. "I could still really appreciate as a part of my career the challenge I embraced and all of the obstacles I overcame to be here. That was really special to me."
Wagner's free skate ranked second only to Flatt's, but it wasn't enough to overcome her fourth-place finish after Thursday's short program. Her overall score left her 4.08 out of second place.
The Olympic team was announced more than two hours after the conclusion of the competition.
Mirai Nagasu, left, and Rachael Flatt display their silver and gold medals following the ladies free skate at the U.S. Championships on Saturday.
"Either way I'm fine," Wagner, a recent graduate of West Potomac High, had said before the selection was announced. "I'm focusing on how far I've come this year. It was such a stressful year . . . third place isn't actually too bad considering the year I've had."
Flatt scored 200.11 overall after a powerful, aggressive long program in which she hit seven triple jumps. Nagasu, who skated last, finished with 188.78 overall, but her free-skate score of 118.72 baffled the crowd and trailed that of Wagner, who had earned 122.15. Wagner tallied 184.70 overall and Cohen, 174.28.
"I certainly have things to improve upon; my performances were not perfect," Flatt said. But "I'm learning how to compete well under different situations, especially under more pressure than I'm used to."
Nagasu, who won the U.S. title in 2008 at age 14, electrified the arena with her seemingly flawless skate, but she received downgrades on several of her triple jumps, penalties that cost her at least 10 or 11 points. When her scores were announced, the audience murmured with disappointment and confusion, and her coach, Frank Carroll, said he disagreed with two of the calls.
Even NBC announcer Scott Hamilton said the low marks caught him by surprise.
"I think she came away with the performance that was the highest received by the audience," Hamilton said. Even "I got caught up in the performance."
Wagner skated artfully in a purple dress to the "Polovtsian Dances," coolly executing an elegant program with a high level of difficulty. Afterward, she sat in the kiss-and-cry area, mouthing "please" into the cameras, then covering her eyes as her marks were announced.
"I'm really happy with that performance," Wagner said. "It's been a really great season for me . . . I really accomplished what I wanted to do, and I'm really pleased with it."
Cohen fell attempting a triple flip and two-footed the landing of her triple loop. She landed four clean triples but also stepped out of the second jump in her combination. Two nights after earning a standing ovation after a performance that reminded of her glory days, there were gasps and groans. Her long program earned 15 points fewer than Wagner's.
Performing after Cohen, Flatt hit seven triple jumps, including a triple flip-triple toe in combination, putting together and clean and exciting program that pulled the fans out of their seats. When she saw her marks, 130.76 for the long, she screamed with delight.
"It is stressful," Flatt told NBC, "but I think I handled it really well. I had so much fun. I'm still shaking."
The U.S. Figure Skating Association's 36-member international committee chaired by Lorrie Parker met immediately after the event to determine the Olympic selection.
"Whoever scores the best should go," Hamilton said. "You have a little debate with the downgrading and Ashley being second in the long . . . but the two who finish the best here, that's the best chance we have in Vancouver."
Flatt, who had finished second at the previous two U.S. championships, scored a fifth place at last year's world championships in Los Angeles. Nagasu, the 2008 U.S. champion, struggled mightily last year before joining Carroll, the coach of reigning men's world champion Evan Lysacek and former coach of skating legend Michelle Kwan.
"I always said I was trying not to think about the Olympics, but it was always in the back of my mind," Nagasu said. "Hopefully, we can represent the U.S. well at the Olympics."
Nagasu led after Thursday's short program with 70.06 points. Cohen had 69.63; Flatt, 69.35; and Wagner, 62.55.
Last year's national champion, Alissa Czisny, concluded a disappointing nationals with trouble on three jumps, including a fall on a triple Lutz attempt. Czisny, who stood in seventh place after the short program, scored 86.19 in the long program Saturday and dropped to 10th place with 140.37.
Emily Hughes, summoned as an alternate for the 2006 Winter Games, will not have the same opportunity this year. She fell attempting a triple salchow and triple flip and scored 86.85 in the free skate and 140.60 overall. She finished in ninth.
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