Richmond’s Liu repeats as champion
GREENSBORO, N.C. — Richmond’s Alysa Liu watched Mariah Bell put out the performance of her life. Then the 14yearold defending champion did Bell one better.
Liu needed all of her technical brilliance in her impressive jumping arsenal to hold off Bell at the U.S. Figure Skating Championships title Friday night.
“I was very happy for her,“Liu said. “I said, ‘OK, she did well and I also have to do well.’ ”
No American woman comes close to the repertoire of jumps Liu possesses. She hit two triple axels among eight triples overall and attempted the only quad of the event, a lutz she underrotated. Her 160.12 points by far exceeded the rest of the field and lifted her to 235.52 and up from second place after the short program.
Skating last, Liu had little margin after Bell’s superb skate.
Bell knew after her final triple lutz, her seventh triple jump of the program, that she’d outdone herself. A huge smile spread across her face for the final halfminute as she flew across the ice with spirals and then her last spins.
“I saw how into it the crowd was and I love to share what I do with the audience like that,“she said. “I feel very awesome to have that experience.“
Bell’s program was choreographed by 2018 U.S. Olympian Adam Rippon, who got the first hug from her as she left the ice to a standing ovation.
“Adam has been such a major part of my success this year,“Bell explained. “To have that moment here was so special. He deserves to have that moment and to be able to share it.“
But she simply didn’t have the technical numbers to win her first national crown.
Short program winner Bradie Tennell, the 2018 U.S. champ, has vastly improved her presentation, and she’s usually the most precise of American female jumpers. Her fall on a triple loop not only was surprising, it dropped her to third place.
Tennell landed six triples, all of them efficiently, and her program flowed nicely, with good pace and dynamic spins. It wasn’t particularly exciting, but it was among her most interesting routines. And she did it after an infection to her elbow caused “a really crazy week.“
Because Liu is too young to go to senior worlds, Bell and Tennell are likely to get the trip to Montreal in March. Meanwhile, Liu will keep an eye on all competitors.
“I do pay attention to other skaters around the world,” she said. “I’m aware a lot of them are getting these difficult jumps and just trying to keep up with the jumps and keep up with the skating skills for others around the world.”
Earlier Friday, Madison Chock and Evan Bates, who won their only national championship at the Greensboro Coliseum in 2015, used a lively performance to win the rhythm dance.
“We are different people than we were five years ago,” Chock said.
“We’re very proud of today’s skate. It was free and spontaneous; that was the goal of ours.”
The couple missed the 201819 Grand Prix season when Chock underwent ankle surgery. But they returned to finish second at nationals to Madison Hubbell and Zach Donohue.
Now, they are on a roll that includes a secondplace showing at the Grand Prix Final, where their longtime competitors, Hubbell and Donohue, placed third.
Yes, U.S. ice dance is in good shape with these two veteran teams.
Chock and Bates, a couple off the ice, have been to the last two Olympics, finishing eighth in Sochi and ninth in Pyeongchang. They’ve hung around, hardly unusual in ice dance, and are on the verge of making this season their best. They haven’t been worse than second in 201920.
“For a whole year we have been low and high, and now we are on a high,” Chock added. Barry Wilner is an Associated Press writer.