The United States figure skating nationals are ipso facto rich with drama and excitement, but the stakes are never higher than every fourth year when they double as the Olympic trials. This year’s event at San Jose’s SAP Center, which wrapped on Sunday, was no exception. Here are eight takeaways with the Pyeongchang Olympics just over a month away.
A star was born with Bradie Tennell’s improbable title
Tennell won the junior national title in 2015, but thanks to injuries had done little to distinguish herself on the senior level until a third-place finish at Skate America six weeks ago. Now the 19-year-old from Illinois, who placed ninth at nationals last year, is bound for next month’s Olympics as America’s best skater after a week when she almost unnervingly refused to make a significant mistake in competition or in practice. She lay down the best short program of her career to enter Friday night’s free skate in pole position, then hit every element of a long program betraying no signs of pressure despite skating last after sterling performances by Mirai Nagasu and Karen Chen, who will join her in Pyeongchang. Tennell didn’t have the artistry of her competitors, but she earned her title with technical precision and a buoyant confidence that won over the judges – and the mental fortitude that her competitors lacked.
Mirai Nagasu was the feel-good story of the week
Four years ago Nagasu, a national champion eons ago in 2008 and the fourth-place finisher at the Vancouver Olympics in 2010, came in third at nationals but was passed over for Ashley Wagner by the selection committee, who handpick the team based on a number of fuzzy criteria including season-long body of work and track record in international competition. She’s since reinvented herself by adding the triple axel to her quiver, becoming only the third ever American to land the sport’s most difficult element in competition after Kimmie Meissner and you know who. The 24-year-old didn’t stick it clean in either of her routines in San Jose, but delivered on nearly every other element of both skates and ended her mature, flowing long program in tears of joy, an Olympic return after eight interminable years all but assured. A career peak for the veteran, whose institutional underappreciation was articulated pointedly by my erstwhile Sports Illustrated stablemate Rebecca Sun during the week, and beyond dispute the feel-good moment of the weekend.
Ashley Wagner was good, but not good enough
The scuttlebutt entering nationals was US Figure Skating was not going to gift Wagner a spot on the team simply because she was the biggest name on offer and already featured heavily in NBC’s promotion of the Olympics. The message rang loud and clear after Wagner found herself in fifth after a ragged short program littered with errors. Two nights later she boldly debuted a new long program inspired by La La Land and nailed the triple flip-triple toe she missed in the short, but still mixed in enough mistakes to finish fourth overall. Make no mistake: the elemental powers that be wanted Wagner on the team, if not solely for her ability and experience then for her telegenic personality and Q Score. But it was on the 26-year-old to earn a mandate in San Jose and she came up short, even if she vigorously dissented with the judges’ marks. Instead, the third spot went to Karen Chen, last year’s national champion who overcame an up-and-down season and an illness that left her bedridden on Thursday to win the bronze, with Wagner, the 2016 world silver medalist, settling for first alternate.
Nathan Chen is a bona fide contender for Olympic gold
The stylish 18-year-old phenom from Salt Lake City was his imperious best in capturing his second national title with a dazzling display of athleticism in Saturday’s men’s finale. Clad in a stunning all-black Vera Wang number, Chen landed five clean quadruple jumps – toe loop, Salchow, loop, flip and Lutz – for the first time all year with his lone mistake coming on a triple axel, clearing the field by more than 40 points. The outrageously difficult jumps have become the teenager’s calling card: Chen has flirted with the outer limits of the sport as he’s become first ever skater to land five quads in a program and, before that, the first to land even four. Now he’s emerged as a legitimate contender for Olympic gold while Japan’s Yuzuru Hanyu, the sport’s biggest star and presumptive favorite in Pyeongchang, battles back from a right foot injury. He’s won every competition he’s entered this season and appears to be peaking at the right time. Come back next month and he could be a household name.
Rippon over Miner was the biggest selection controversy
Adam Rippon entered Saturday’s long program in second place and one clean skate away from making his first Olympics at 28 years old, capping a remarkable journey of perseverance which included a near-retirement after the last Olympic cycle and a broken foot last year. But after a catastrophic program that saw him tumble to the ice on his opening jump and turn a pair of triples into singles, the New Yorker dropped to fourth overall and his fate was left in the hands of the committee. On Sunday morning, US Figure Skating announced Rippon would join Chen and bronze medalist Vincent Zhou in Pyeongchang, with silver medalist Ross Miner, the 26-year-old from Boston who ignited the San Jose crowd with a sensational free skate set to a Queen medley, named as the second alternate behind Jason Brown (who was hardly better than Rippon on Saturday night). The first openly gay man to compete for the United States at the Winter Games, Rippon will be the oldest American male figure skater in 82 years to make his Olympic debut. It’s a devastating break for Miner, whose coach Mike Mitchell was cruelly left off the 1992 Olympic team under similar circumstances, but one must imagine Rippon’s superior short program, which could prove critical in the team event, was a key factor.
The US can expect at least one medal beyond the singles
The upset of the week came in the ice dancing competition where Madison Hubbell and Zachary Donohue closed the competition on Sunday with a surprise win over two-time defending champion sibling tandem Maia and Alex Shibutani. Since the United States will send three dance teams to Korea, the Shibutanis will join them along with Madison Chock and Evan Bates, who finished third despite the best score in the free dance for their emotive skate to John Lennon’s Imagine. Any one of the closely matched trio should contend for the bronze in Korea. The margins were far less forgiving in the pairs competition, where the United States were only allocated a single team for Pyeongchang: that spot went to the husband-and-wife team of Alexa Scimeca Knierim and Chris Knierim, who captured their second national title in four years on Sunday in a discipline that’s represented a weak spot for the United States for years.
Jimmy Ma and Lil Jon broke the internet
The International Skating Union ended their prohibition on music with lyrics three years ago, but few have taken advantage like Long Island’s Jimmy Ma, whose short program to DJ Snake and Lil Jon’s Turn Down For What took a Molotov cocktail to the internet when it dropped on Thursday night. The 22-year-old is no stranger to unorthodox musical choices – he skated to an Emimem medley at nationals last year – but Thursday’s performance felt like a leap forward, or a leap somewhere, for a sport whose hidebound traditions can be charming but occasionally self-defeating. For the record: the charismatic Ma finished 11th in the final table but first in our hearts.
Teenage up-and-comer Starr Andrews is one to watch
There was no shortage of compelling performances at these nationals but honorable mention is due Starr Andrews, a 16-year-old representing Los Angeles Figure Skating Club, who turned in two clean programs in her senior debut capped by a standing ovation after Friday’s free skate set to a specially recorded version of Whitney Houston’s One Moment in Time ... with the teenager herself covering the vocals before handing off to Whitney for the finale. Williams finished sixth overall, not quite enough to contend for a place in the Olympics this time around, but you’d do well to remember the name.
