Max Aaron (USA) won his first Grand Prix gold medal in only his second try.  He was the bronze medalist in 2013. The last American man to stand a top the Skate America podium was Evan Lysacek in 2009.

The title rewarded a determined Aaron who is striving to return to his 2013 U.S. Championship level.

“It’s my first big win in a while. I feel like now I’m getting back to myself. I’m learning how to up my mental game, up my components. I’m looking forward to hopefully getting the opportunity to win my title back at the U.S. Championships. I want to make that world team again,” Aaron told the press.

The Colorado-trained athlete did two quads, one after the halfway mark, and two triple Axels, one in combination, en route to a personal best 172.78 score.

The "Black Swan" music guided Aaron through the program until a loss of concentration on the final double Axel caused a stumble.

“It feels great to come out here and do what I’ve done in practice every single day. I had a little mishap on the last jumping pass when I started thinking about the whole performance and what I had put out there. Prior to that, I was staying in the moment and listening to the music. I enjoyed every second of it," recalled the skater.

He added, "This win is amazing. It’s my first big win in a while. I’m not going to think about it a lot. I want this to be the start of a lot of things. I wish I could enjoy it a lot more than I can but I hope this is the first of many. I can’t wait to see where I can go in the future.

Describing his journey over the past two season he said, "I work with our team psychologist and my coach. I’m continuing to grow and want to be someone who can perform under pressure. We have a couple things that we do. But by all means, this is just a start and I still need to learn. I am looking forward to the next events to come up because I hope I learn more from what I’m doing."

"You get to a point where you’re going or staying static and at the time I was staying static. Once you stay static you get passed up. There are so many great, young men not only in the United States but in the world now that are coming up and beating the older guys. I like to think of myself as an older guy now...But I have to continue to learn and grow. I learn a lot from these guys. I learn a lot from Jason. He’s so consistent. He’s a great performer. I love watching him perform and by watching him I can get better and better and better myself. So you’re going to stay static or you’re going to grow and I wanted to grow and I wanted to become one of the best. And if I can’t I’m going to go down swinging. That’s going to be my story."

Shoma Uno (JPN) and U.S. reigning champion Jason Brown were second and third respectively.

Uno delivered a powerful performance to selections from Puccini’s opera "Turandot," including the aria “Nessun Dorma”. The 2015 World Junior Champion won the free program and the silver medal in his Grand Prix debut.

Uno spoke about his performance to the press. "In the short event, there were a few mistakes. The free went much better. I’m quite happy about it. It wasn’t perfect. I hope to get better in the next performance."

On his placement: I’m quite happy to win my (Grand Prix) first silver medal and I hope to keep on improving. Using what I learned today, I hope to come to the next event more prepared.

Coming so close to winning the gold medal (trailing Aaron by 1.52 points) he was asked what he would do differently if he could pick one thing.

"I was happy with most of my jumps but I was focusing on my jumps so my spins and steps were not perfect," he said. "I would pick my last combination spin. But rather than thinking about what I can do better, I want to think about my next Grand Prix in France.

Uno's performance earned him the second highest component scores, with choreography and interpretation that put to shame Aaron's effort with the same music in the short program.

Jason Brown vaulted from a disappointing eighth place in the short program to capture the bronze medal, despite struggling on the technical side. After falling on his much-anticipated quad (which was under-rotated), his solo triple Axel was downgraded and a triple toe loop in combination with triple flip was also under-rotated.

Brown explained the process of inserting the quad.

 “To be honest, it’s so new, so fresh. It’s all about right now attacking it and going into it, and I feel like I attacked it and I didn’t hold back.  Yes, it’s a little different in the competition than practice and it needs more time, but you have to start somewhere. So I’m really proud that I went for it fully and I kind of left it where it was and moved on with the program."

"I started landing it (the quad) three weeks ago. It’s very fresh. I’m at that point where you have to do a couple and do a couple and then it starts to land. … It’s all part of the process and I’m so excited that I’m currently in that process of doing it and figuring it out."

At the press conference, the Colorado-trained skater was asked about his state of mind after the short program. He shared his self-evaluation process.

It was that fluky thing in the short program that was something that shook me up last night. I had an awesome talk with my coach Kori (Ade), going over that process and journey, knowing that I’m one of those skaters whose confidence comes from consistency and training and practice every day. Competition this early on in the season, you don’t have the mileage, especially with trying new jumps, and these are fresh new programs. I had to switch my mentality. What are the check boxes? I have to stay in the moment. It was about that rather than looking back. This is where I get my confidence but I can’t pull from that right now so I have to pull from different boxes. It was thanks to my coach and trying to rework my head going into the long program.”

On placing third: It’s such an honor to be up here with Max (Aaron) and Shoma (Uno). They are amazing and it was so cool to watch them today. I’m super excited about my performance today. I fought the whole way through. It wasn’t perfect by any means but I’m proud of the fight. I continued to perform through entire thing.

Skating to "The Scent of Love," Brown was scored first in components, in  a performance.  Watching him move so perfectly to the music was a joy to watch despite the technical errors.  How the judges scored Aaron within four points of Brown in components is one of those mysteries of skating that are beyond understanding.

The third American, Ross Miner skated to selections by Queen and finished seventh. The Boston-trained athlete revealed his disappointment.

“I was pretty disappointed with that. I’ve been skating great in practice, and I really need to find a way to connect that with competing. My short program was much more in line with what I do every day. To go out there and do so far below what I train doesn’t feel great."

"When I do the work that I do, that’s really frustrating.  I just know that I’m so much better than what I just showed, and it stinks to do all that hard work and then not show what I’m really capable of. All I really want is to go out there and skate the way I can because I know how competitive I can be when I do that.”

Han Yan (CHN) and Konstantin Menshov (RUS), second and third after the short programs moved down to fourth and fifth places.

Yan attempted two quad toe loops and while the first was successful, the second was under-rotated and was not in combination, earning just 1.83 points.  This alone cost him a place on the podium.

Menshov planned three quads and landed one, an opening quad toe loop in combination. On quad Salchow he fell and his attempt at a second quad toe loop he tripled and landed poorly.

Dennis Ten of Kazakhstan finished ninth. The reigning Olympic and World bronze medalist had three falls and popped an Axel. Afterwards he revealed he had skated with an injured lower back and hip.