U.S. champ Chen struggles in first meet since triumph
Fremont figure skater 12th at Four Continents meet in South Korea
U.S. champion Karen Chen of Fremont faltered in her first competition since the stunning victory at the national championships last month.
Chen finished 12th in the women’s short program Thursday at the Four Continents meet in the 2018 Winter Games ice rink in Gangneung, South Korea.
Chen, 17, downgraded her triple-triple jump combination and then fell on her triple loop in a frustrating performance ahead of next month’s World Championships in Helsinki, Finland.
The teen, who trains in Riverside under Tammy Gambill, finished 12th in the same competition last year.
But after a commanding victory at the U.S. championships, Chen is considered a strong candidate to return to South Korea for the 2018 Pyeongchang Games.
“I came here with higher expectations,” she said. “This short definitely didn’t go well, but it’s another experience for me, so I hope to keep on improving.”
Canadians Gabrielle Daleman and Kaetlyn Osmond are first and second, respectively. The free skate is scheduled for Saturday.
Football
Ron Gould, who helped develop some of the NFL’s top running backs while an assistant coach at Cal, has been named Stanford’s running backs coach. Gould spent the past four years as the head coach at UC Davis. At Stanford, he will replace Lance Taylor, who was hired by the Carolina Panthers.
Baseball
Stanford sophomore Kris Bubic was perfect through four, held a no-hitter into the sixth and struck out a careerhigh 10 batters, but host Cal State Fullerton scored the only run to top Stanford 1-0. The Titans broke through with a double and single to plate the run in the sixth inning. The start of the series was moved up a day because of weather. The series resumes Saturday (6 p.m.).
New San Jose State n coach Jason Hawkins will have to wait a day to make his debut with the Spartans. UCLA moved the opener against the Spartans back to Saturday (6 p.m.) due to weather.