National champ Chen heads U.S. team of new Olympians
Rippon, 4th place at nationals, is picked as Miner misses out.
Two-time national champion Nathan Chen, veteran Adam Rippon and rising star Vincent Zhou were selected Sunday to represent the United States at the Pyeongchang Olympics next month.
A U.S. Figure Skating Committee chose 2016 U.S. champ Rippon, who came in fourth at the national championships on Saturday night in San Jose, Calif., instead of second-place finisher Ross Miner. The committee takes into consideration a number of criteria, including overall performance for the season.
It will be the first Olympics for all three.
Rippon’s inclusion at Miner’s expense isn’t unprecedented; the committee has made such moves in the past involving Michelle Kwan and Ashley Wagner.
At 28, Rippon was the oldest competitor in the men’s field. By contrast, Chen is 18 and Zhou is 17.
Chen has won every competition he’s entered this season and, with his repertoire of quadruple jumps — he did five on Saturday night in his free skate — has pushed the envelope on technical skills in skating. He will be among the favorites at the Olympics.
Chen’s five breathtaking quadruple jumps helped him skate to a commanding national title Saturday. Chen beat second-place Ross Miner with a total score of 315.23 — a startling 40.72-point margin over Miner’s 274.51.
Zhou, skating in his in his hometown, attempted five quads and completed four in his difficult program — one quad was in combination with a triple — for a score of 273.83 and third place.
Rippon, second out of the short program, fell on his quad lutz but recovered. He then popped his planned triple salchow and triple lutz into singles for fourth place with a score of 268.34.
Sticking with the standings at the national championships, U.S. Figure Skating also selected husband-andwife team Alexa Scimeca Knierim and Chris Knierim for the Olympic team.
The Knierims won their first U.S. title in 2015, repeated on Saturday and are the only U.S. pair to complete a quadruple twist. Pairs competition has been a problem area for the United States for years and the country has only one spot in the Pyeongchang field next month
Speedskating: A return to speedskating after a fiveyear break paid off for in-line skater Mia Manganello of Crestview, Florida, who secured a spot to the Winter Games with a third-place finish in the 1,500 meters at the U.S. speedskating trials Saturday, qualifying with a time of 1 minute, 59.28 seconds. Winner Brittany Bowe and second-place Heather Bergsma had already qualified for the Olympics. Sunday’s Games
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