Ashley Wagner

Gracie Gold

Karen Chen

All Photos © 2015 George Rossano

(1 February 2015) Ashley Wagner continued a convincing comeback season with a commanding win of the Ladies event at the U.S. National Championships.  After losing the Ladies title to Gracie Gold in Boston in 2014, where she placed fourth, and subsequently placed seventh in both the 2014 Olympic Winter Games and the World Championships, Wagner has attacked the current season with renewed vigour.  She placed second at Skate Canada and third at Eric Bompard.  At the Grand Prix final she started with a mediocre Short Program, but delivered  a solid Free Skating performance to third place for the bronze medal.

For many seasons Wagner seemed to shy away from attacking a triple-triple, but this season she has shown consistent command of triple Lutz - triple toe loop.  In the Short Program that element received an edge attention (formerly called an edge alert).  In the long the element was clean with most judges scoring it +2.

Skating to "Sparticus" in the Short Program and "Moulin Rouge" in the Free Skate she gave two expressive performances.  In both programs, however, her marks for Transitions were distinctly lower.  Both programs have noticable holes in the choreography, particularly between consecutive jump elements.

Wagner looked confident before both programs, and prior to her free skate she looked energized.  When her name was called she started to move towards center ice, then returned to her coach Rafael Arutyunyan.  They had words and then she skated quickly to center ice.  What looked like energized to compete, Wagner later described as being absolutely terrified.

 After the event she commented, "This was the first competition in a while where I’ve been able to put out two totally solid performances. And it’s also the first competition in a while where I’ve said I’m going to put out two solid performances and then do that.  I am really, really happy with tonight. I feel like Raf (Rafael Arutyunyan) and I are finally starting to understand each other to the point that he can figure out how to make me calm when I’m absolutely terrified. Tonight was a stepping stone to what I think I’m capable of doing."

In the Free Skate Wagner's program components were mostly in the nines and she received a total of eleven tens.  She was named to both the Four Continents and World teams, but a day later she declined the Four Continents assignment to focus on training for the World Championships in Shanghai.

2014 Champion Gracie Gold has struggled somewhat this season, and in this event nothing was viewed as even remotely close to a sure thing prior to the competition.  Gold made the Grand Prix final with a third place finish at Skate America and win at NHK Trophy, but she withdrew from the final due to a minor foot injury.  Her jumps have been a bit off all season and at Nationals that remained to be the case.

In the Short Program her combination ended up as Triple Lutz - double toe loop after a minor error on the triple Lutz.  In the Free Skate, however, she landed this element in grand style and received six +3s and three +2.  She also landed double Axel - triple toe loop in the Free Skate, but on triple flip, she had an edge call, under-rotation and a fall.

Gold placed second in the Short Program largely due to the lesser value of her combination, and also by executing a triple loop instead of Wagner's triple Flip.  But even in components she trailed Wagner, with her Program Component score 0.66 points behind Wagner.

Gold also placed second in the Free Skate.  She trailed in Total Element Score primarily by the points lost in the fall on triple flip, but in Program Components the judges had a clear preference and had her 4.43 points behind Wagner.

Prior to both her performance Gold looked tense and uncomfortable, particularly before her name was called for the Free Skate where she followed Wagner in the start order and she looked like she was waiting to be called for a root canal.

Gold described her performances saying "Both of my performances at this competition had some flaws, a few that were fatal but I was still able to put out solid performances. It was really hard to skate a long program after the roar of the crowd and the standing ovation. It brought me back to Sochi when I skated after Adelina Sotnikova who won. It was hard, I was nervous for this competition. Nationals is always a big one, but I skated really well and the competition was really tough and so we were the three that won out, but any of the top 10 were magnificent tonight."

Gold was named to both the Four Continents and World Teams.

The surprise bronze medalist in the Ladies event was the delightful Karen Chen, competing fro the first time as a senior.  Chen was so not on the radar for this event, she was not even included in the media guide as a potential story (yes U.S. Figure Skating gives the media "hints" about what they should write about).  She competed in the Junior Series the past two seasons and placed fourth in Juniors at 2013 Nationals.  At 2014 Nationals she had to withdraw after placing fifth in the Short Program, but was able to compete at 2014 Junior Worlds where she placed ninth.

Chen was sixth in the Short Program, skating to "Requiem for a Tower" and Requiem for a Dream", placing behind Polina Edmunds and Mirai Nagasu.  On triple Lutz - triple toe loop, the toe loop was called under.  The loss of points in that element alone dropped her from a potential third place in the short to sixth, given how close the scores were for the third through sixth place competitors.

Skating to music from "The Godfather" she again under rotated the toe loop on the triple Lutz - triple toe loop combination.  On triple flip she also had an edge attention, but the jump was so strong otherwise only one judge marked the element negative.  (On an edge attention, the judges must reduce the GoE, but the element does not have to be marked negative.)

In the Free Skate Chen was scored second in Total Element Score and third in Program Components.  In addition to being a "jumping machine" her spins and step sequences all achieved level 4. ABout her competition she said, "I’m very proud of what I’ve done because it’s been a tough two years. And I’m just very glad that I was able to go out there and do two programs that I’m very proud of and I just feel like it’s a good improvement from what I’ve done before and I’m very happy and I hope I continue to improve."

Chen is not age eligible for Worlds this year and was named to the team for Junior Worlds instead.

After a meteoric rise from Junior Champion in 2013, Senior silver medalist in 2014 and eight and ninth place finishes at 2014 Worlds and the Olympic Winter Games, Polina Edmund has struggled with growth and puberty issues this season.  She did not make the Grand Prix final this season, with eighth and fourth place results in her two Grand Prix assignments.  Thus, it was a bit of a mystery if she would remain competitive for the podium at these National Championships.

Skating to flamenco and tango dance music Edmunds had a strong Short Program where she placed third.  She landed a clean triple Lutz - triple toe loop, and landed triple flip, but with an edge attention.  Her spins and steps were all level 4.  She was scored fourth in both element points and component points, but the third place scores were split between two other skaters, giving her the bump she needed to place third.

In the Free Skate Edmunds performed to music from Peter Pan,  She attempted seven triples, two of which had edge attentions (both flips) and she also fell on triple Lutz. She scored more than eight points in the Free Skate behind Chen, who had clearly better quality jumps and components.

As the forth best placing age eligible skater in the event, Edmunds was named to both the Four Continents and World teams.

Mirai Nagasu, a sentimental favorite after the events of last season where she placed third at Nationals but was named to neither the Olympic or World teams, placed fourth in the Short Program, losing at least one place, and maybe two, due to an under rotation of the toe loop in triple Lutz - triple toe loop.

In the Free Skate disaster overtook her, falling on two jumps, the first of which aggravated a prior knee injury.  In near tears after the falls Nagasu gave a plaintive look to coach Tom Zakrajsek and then soldiered on. The rest of the program, however, just fell apart.  She scored twelfth in the Free Skate and tenth overall.

Following the event, the following medical report was issued by U.S. Figure Skating.

One month prior to the event, Mirai Nagasu had an MRI on her left knee, which showed a cartilage contusion.

Tonight, when she fell, she hyperextended the same knee and bruised the cartilage again.

The clinical impression by Dr. Burt Fields, following a bedside examination and ultrasound, is that there was no ligament tear or more serious cartilage damage.

Nagasu received a compression wrap and ice, and will be re-evaluated first thing in the morning.

She has been advised to stay off the ice until the knee has been stabilized and re-evaluated.

Following the check-up tomorrow morning, Dr. Fields will advise Nagasu to see her physician in Colorado Springs.

Another podium hopeful that struggled in this event was Courtney Hicks, who placed fourth in 2013 and 6th in 2014.

Hicks scored second in element points in the Short Program, but she did not receive much love from the judges in components where she scored seventh.  In the Free Skate she attempted six triples, one of which was downgraded (the toe loop in her leadoff triple Flip - triple toe loop).  She scored tenth in elements and eighth in components to place ninth in the Free Skate and eighth overall.

Samantha Cesario, who had a bad start with an 11th place result in the Short Program skated a strong Free Skate to finish fifth in the Free Skate and fifth overall.  Cesario was named first alternate for the Four Continent and World teams.  With Wagner declining her assignment to Four Continents, Cesario replaced her on that team.