An Olympic-size choke by Wagner
BOSTON — Ashley Wagner was a nervous wreck on Saturday night, just when she could least afford such a meltdown at the U.S. Figure Skating Championships. She fell on the back end of her first combination, a triple toe loop. She tumbled on another triple loop later in the free skate routine, and appeared almost hypnotically leaden-booted throughout her step sequence. Performing to “Romeo and Juliet,” it was as if Wagner was reenacting the death scene, over and over.
On a night when Gracie Gold established herself as the national champion and the glamorous, flagship skater for the American team heading to Russia, Wagner faltered badly and finished fourth. She had been expected to take gold, and got only pewter. Wagner looked, in other words, a lot like she had the last time she was trying and failing to make an Olympic team, four years ago.
When it was done, Wagner skated over to the kiss and cry area and mouthed to the world, “I’m sorry.” America’s best woman skater over the past three years has put her fate in the hands of a USFSA committee, which on Sunday will announce whether it will bump veteran Mirai Nagasu, in third place, or promising teen Polina Edmunds, in second, so that Wagner can go to Sochi.
There is an argument to be made for such a move, since Wagner is ranked as high as No. 2 in the world and helped earn the third berth for the women at the last world championships. But she was so awful here, even Wagner could not figure out what had happened to her brain.
“I’ve heard news of such an affliction, but it never happened to me,” Wagner said about the paralyzing attack of nerves. “I’m sorry as a two-time national champion that’s what I put out there. This is my second chance (at an Olympics). Who knows if I get a third?”
Wagner, 22, said it was absolutely impossible to describe the bad feeling she had out there.
“Hard to imagine, unless you were out there,” she said.
There was no backing into the three top spots, either. Gold, the last one to skate, sealed Wagner’s fate with a superb effort. She skated the best free skate of the night, stumbling only once on a triple flip and putting both hands on the ice for support. After landing her last jump, a double axel, she pumped her fist in triumph. The crown was hers with a score of 211.69, along with an automatic Olympic berth.
“I was in my last layback spin, thinking, ‘Oh my God, I have a really great chance of going to the Olympics,’” said Gold, who heads to New York for an appearance on “The Today Show” on Tuesday. “It was like a fairy tale. I felt strangely calm. I’m so proud of myself.”
Gold had a suggestion for headline writers who have been waiting for this moment. “I think maybe something to do with gold,” she said, smiling.
Edmunds, the 15-year-old upstart, fell on a triple flip and appeared jittery herself on this occasion. But she landed enough jumps in a technically difficult program to earn second place with a 193.63, compared to Wagner’s 182.74. Nagasu, who finished fourth at the Vancouver Olympics, scored 190.74 for third.
Neither Edmunds nor Nagasu was volunteering to be bumped for Wagner. “I’m young, but I’m age-eligible,” the precocious Edmunds said. “My role model, Tara Lipinski, was 15 when she went to the Olympics. I’ve been skating for 13 years. Tonight was the night we were supposed to prove ourselves. The results are the results.”
Nagasu didn’t expect to sleep a wink, waiting for this decision.
“Hopefully, they pick me to the team,” she said. “I haven’t always been the most consistent skater, but I know I’m always good under pressure – most of the time.”
In an earlier event Saturday, Meryl Davis and Charlie White easily captured an unprecedented sixth straight national title in ice dancing and will go to Sochi as gold medal favorites after breaking another barrier with their 200.19 total score.