U.S. women head for worst figure skating finish

GANGNEUNG, South Korea—One by one, the best in American figure skating fell to the ice, their Olympic hopes dashed in the opening seconds of their short programs at the Pyeongchang Games.

It was emblematic of the state of U.S. figure skating.

Sure, Nathan Chen did rebound from a dismal short program to have the highestfree skate in the men’s Olympic program. The Shibutani siblings, Maia and Alex, won ice dance bronze. The U.S. squad even managed to hold off Italy and Japan to win bronze in the team event.

But for the every-four-year fan, figure skating begins and ends with the women, and there was no doubt during Wednesday’s short program that the U.S. has fallen well behind its rivals. Bradie Tennell went down first. Mirai Nagasu went down later. And when Karen Chen hit the deck, the Americans were left with their worst short program showing in any Olympics, and now face the prospect of their worst performance overall unless they rally in Friday’s free skate.

So why did everything go wrong? When did the onceproud nation that produced seven gold medalists between the 1952 Oslo Games and the 2006 Turin Games get lapped by Russia, Japan and Canada?

Where are this generation’s Peggy Fleming, Kristi Yamaguchi and Tara Lipinski?

Some would argue the decline began when Kwan, one of the most popular Olympians ever, began to withdraw from the competitive scene in the mid-2000s. The sport was left without a clear American face at a time when more extreme sports, such as snowboarding, were ballooning in popularity.

The fallout was noticeable within U.S. Figure Skating, where membership declined three straight years.

Many kids were choosing the snow over the ice, and a decade later, Chloe Kim is gracing the cover of Sports Illustrated with her gold medal from the women’s halfpipe. Meanwhile, figure skating remained prevalent in nations such as Russia, where top skaters are among the most popular athletes in any sport. Alina Zagitova and Evgenia Medvedeva are expected to claim gold and silver in some order in Pyeongchang, and they spent Wednesday swapping the world record for a short program, each finishing more than 15 points ahead of Nagasu—the top American in ninth place.

The U.S. had been successful at the Winter Olympics before Fleming, winning back-to-back golds with Tenley Albright and Carol Heiss. But it was Fleming’s dazzling performance in the French Alps that truly started an era of American domination, when the stars and stripes would fly for at least one medalist in every games through Sasha Cohen’s silver medal in Italy in 2006.

Some years, the biggest question was which American would stand on the top step of the podium. Lipinski and Kwan went 1-2 at the 1998 Nagano Olympics, and when Sarah Hughes won gold at the 2002 Salt Lake City Games, Kwan finished third and Cohen finished fourth. But it was after those Olympics, most insiders believe, that the U.S. began to fall behind.

The judging scandal in Salt Lake City led the International Skating Union to replace its old system with one that rewards points for various elements. But the new structure harshly penalizes mistakes, and when the U.S. implemented the system, it did so in a straightforward way. The result: Young skaters were reluctant to try the hardest elements and risk failure.

Other nations tweaked the scoring, or paid less attention to it, and encouraged their young stars to push the envelope. Soon, young Russian and Japanese skaters that were falling every time they tried a triple lutz were landing it, and then taking those big jumps into competition.

It wasn’t until after a dismal showing at the 2014 Sochi Games that the U.S. followed suit.