MEDALISTS
GOLD Gracie Gold
silver Polina Edmunds
bronze Ashley Wagner
pewter Mirai Nagasu
Gold, Ashley Wagner and Mirai Nagasu
(l-r) Polina Edmunds, Gracie
Gold puts herself into title contention with her short program to “El Choclo.”
By Mimi McKinnis Twenty-one skaters had already performed.
She was eight points behind after the short pro- gram. She wore bold red lipstick and spectators could hear a pin drop in Saint Paul’s Xcel Energy Center when Gracie Gold took her opening pose to close the senior ladies free skate at the 2016 Prudential U.S. Figure Skating Championships. Three-time U.S. champion Ashley Wagner
had left the door open after a fall in her short program and an uncharacteristic popped Lutz in her free skate, and 17-year-old Polina Edmunds had just turned in her second clean performance of the event. Two new champions had already been crowned in pairs and ice dance, and there was just one thought on everyone’s mind as the music of Igor Stravinsky’s The Firebird began echoing through the arena — could Gold do enough to live up to her name? “I knew she could do it,” Gold’s coach Frank
Carly Gold embraces Gracie after the dramatic event.
Carroll said. “I knew she could do it because I know how consistently and fabulously she’s been skating. The short program was a little disap- pointing, because she’s been doing that so well in practice, but I knew that if she did her best, she could win. She was behind by several points, so she had to make up quite a bit, but she was wonderful in the free skate and she did it easily.” Skating a spectacular free skate, which
included seven triple jumps and no negative Grades of Execution, Gold (Wagon Wheel FSC) reclaimed her U.S. title, adding a second gold to the title she won in 2014. Her free skate score of 147.96 not only stands as Gold’s personal best, but as the best ladies free skate score in U.S. history, en route to her total score of 210.46. “I am just over the moon,” Gold said. “I was
so happy with how I skated. Obviously to win another U.S. title means so much to me, espe- cially after last year; however, being second after the short program wasn’t what I wanted. I knew that I had trained so hard for this competition and couldn’t let anything go. I needed to be the best firebird I could be. I am really so happy, so thankful and so blessed.” Making the moment even more special, as
she concluded her post-win interview from the Puffs kiss and cry, Gold was congratulated by her twin sister Carly, who qualified to compete at the U.S. Championships for the first time. “I think this was an extra special nationals because not only did I get to share it with Carly, but we both got to compete and I took back the title, which was one of my main goals for this sea- son,” Gracie said. “After it was all over, I had asked my coaches, ‘Where’s Carly?’ but it’s such a whirl- wind after you win that I wasn’t really expecting
12 MARCH 2016
PHOTOS BY JAY ADEFF/U.S. FIGURE SKATING
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