Wagner gives a thumbs-up to the crowd as she awaits her short program scores.
Polina Edmunds produces a
Two-time U.S. champion Ashley Wagner proves to herself that she belongs on the biggest stage, fi nishing seventh overall with a score of 193.20.
At one of the fi rst practices Polina skated in
Sochi, Nina Edmunds tried to hold back tears when talking about watching her daughter perform in the Olympics on Russian soil. A proud Nina said she used her Russian passport to enter the country of her birth. Polina, meanwhile, got her Olympic wish of getting to meet San Jose Sharks star Joe Pavelski, who represented Team USA on the men’s hockey team. He actually introduced himself to her while she was eating lunch on the day of her short pro- gram in the Olympic Village. T e high school sophomore was busy with her
skating at the Olympics, but she didn’t want to fall behind on her homework. In fact, she completed some of her math assignments on the fl ight from Austria, where she trained for a bit leading up to the competition in Sochi. Her geometry teacher just so happens to be David Glynn’s mother. “I might have some wiggle room,” Edmunds said with a smile. “But I know I want to get it done and not fall behind.” Edmunds made sure to get her homework
done and certainly didn’t fall behind in her skating, either. If anything, she’s a step or two ahead now having an Olympic competition under her belt at just 15.
All three U.S. ladies spoke about their desire to make another trip to the Olympics when the
compelling free skate en route
to 183.25 points and a ninth-place overall fi nish.
Winter Games are held in the South Korean city of Pyeongchang in 2018. As Edmunds, who would be just 19 come the
next Winter Games in 2018 said, “I knew that the only thing I could do is skate a great program and show them what I could do for future competitions to come.” Wagner, meanwhile, said she knew as soon as
she landed in Sochi that she was “signed on for the next four years.” “I think in working with (coach Rafael Arutyu-
nyan), he’s been able to do so much with me in six months and to see how he trains me in one month, I can’t even begin to imagine what a year with him would be like technically and what four years could be like,” Wagner said. “I want to start setting myself up. So you know it’s the changing of the guard now and I’m ready to be there.” Gold thoroughly enjoyed the Olympic experi-
ence; everything from marching in both the Open- ing and Closing Ceremonies to taking a photo with Yu-Na Kim to receiving shout-outs on Twitter from the likes of Taylor Swift. “It’s been wonderful,” she said. “It’s been such
an amazing opportunity, and the Olympics are cra- zy and they’re rocking, but it’s a time when all the athletes can come together, and I really would love to be on the 2018 team.”
Edmunds shows off her personality and skating talents in her vibrant short program.
SKATING 17
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STREETER LECKA/GETTY IMAGES
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