most Girl,” with her arm held aloft in the kiss-and-cry by John Nicks, the octoge- narian coach who lifted her to victory in less than eight months. “It was wonderful,” Nicks said of his
F
student’s free skate to the Black Swan soundtrack. “Beautiful skating.” Wagner, whose smile lit up San Jose’s
HP Pavilion, had won her first U.S. title. Two weeks later, she would bring home gold from the 2012 Four Continents Champ- ionships in Colorado Springs, Colo. But none of it had come easy. For too long — five seasons at the
senior level — she had fallen just short, left off of the 2009 U.S. World Team and, most painfully, the 2010 U.S. Olympic squad, because of missteps in the short program. In her single trip to the World Championships in 2008, she placed 16th. Finally, after finishing sixth at the 2011
U.S. Championships, she knew a drastic change was needed. The ‘army brat’ born
24 OCTOBER 2012
or many, it is the most indelible moment of the 2012 U.S. Figure Skating Championships.