Each member of Team Asia received


$10,000. Team North America’s athletes each received $7,000, while Team Europe pocketed $5,000 per athlete. Medvedeva, dressed in elegant burgundy,


was stunning from start to finish, earning a Level 4 on each of her spins and step sequences and pos- itive GOEs across the board en route to a score of 77.56 points. Skating to the sophisticated music of the


Melodies of the White Nights soundtrack by Issac Schwartz, Medvedeva effortlessly landed each of her required jumping passes, highlighted by a tri- ple flip-triple toe combination with her arm ex- tended overhead on the first jump. Although the scores from the event do not count as ISU records, Medvedeva’s score tops her previous best by nearly three points. “I feel like I did the best that I could,” she


said. “Te support of my team was very important for me, because this is my first experience being part of and supported by a team.” Medvedeva competed in the No. 1 group


that featured Japan’s Satoko Miyahara, the 2015 World silver medalist from Japan, and U.S. cham- pion Gracie Gold. Wagner, a three-time U.S. champion and


winner of the Captains Pick fan vote, won the No. 3 group with 74.54 points. “Tis is more of mental practice for me and


just sticking to that technique that Rafael [Arutu- nian] and I have been training so hard — under pressure,” Wagner said. “I am way out of shape and I’ll be the first to admit it, and I don’t know what to expect tomorrow but for tonight I’m hap- py with what I did.” Wagner called her short program to “Hip


Hip Chin Chin” by Club des Belugas her all-time favorite. “It’s a great way to wrap it up with a nice


bow,” she added. Uno, the 2015 Grand Prix Final bronze


medalist, led a Team Asia sweep of all three men’s groups. China’s Boyang Jin and Kazakhstan’s De- nis Ten also won their groups. It was Uno’s night, however. Seventh at the


World Championships three weeks earlier in Bos- ton, Uno arrived with the quad flip in his arsenal. Skating to the song “Legends” by Sacred


Spirit, he landed the quad flip at the beginning of his short program. “I feel like it was 50-50, so I’m really sur-


prised,” he said of landing the historic jump. “I’m really lucky tonight that I made it.” Countryman Daisuke Takahashi had tried


the jump twice in 2010 (at the World Champi- onships and Grand Prix Final) without successful landings, according to an icenetwork story. Uno not only pulled his off cleanly but followed with a quad toe loop-triple toe loop combination mid- way through the program. “Making that flip successful made my other


24 JUNE/JULY 2016 Evgenia Medvedeva performs her event-best short program.


jumps better,” said Uno, who said he began prac- ticing the quad flip after the World Champion- ships.


“I just tried the quad flip in this competition


because I want to try it more next season,” he said through an interpreter. “I want to use it for my main jump.” Brown enjoyed his own breakthrough mo-


ment, competing for the first time since being sidelined with a back injury nearly six months ago. Always a crowd favorite, Brown performed a


new short program, finishing second in the No. 3 group with 87.72 points. “Going out there and being healthy and


being able to be part of this event is a victory in itself,” Brown said. Rippon, second to Ten in Group 1 with 86.05 points, was equally satisfied. “I fought for everything,” said the Captains


Pick fan vote winner. “I tried to get all of my points and all of my levels. I pulled out 10 points for my team, and an 86 is my personal best.”


Shoma Uno, Jason Brown and Ashley Wagner entertain the crowd with their short programs.


JAY ADEFF/U.S. FIGURE SKATING


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