LADIES
W ‘So sweet’agner seizes silver PHGDO LQ GUDPDWLF ƬQLVK
by NICK MCCARVEL Weeks before Ashley Wagner took to the ice
at TD Garden for the World Championships, she stepped onto the rink on a quiet day in Boston, with few people around. It was an exorcism of sorts: Te last time
Wagner was on this very ice, she fell (and fell and fell) at the U.S. Championships in 2014. It was — she recalls — a “bittersweet” moment in her skating life. But blade to ice two years later, Wagner was determined to rid herself of the gripping fear that loomed over her in that Olympic season. Tis was a new Ashley. Tis Ashley wanted a Worlds medal around her neck. Tat’s what she earned, behind two spectacu-
lar skates in front of a roaring Boston crowd. It was second only to the wonder that was 16-year-old Evgenia Medvedeva, who set a new World record with her beautiful, seamless free skate. For U.S. champion Gracie Gold, it was a dis- appointing finish to a stellar beginning. Te leader after the short program, Gold faltered in the free skate to finish fourth. Te ladies event, however, would be one for the ages in terms of performances: Medvedeva’s new, youthful grace and athleticism; Wagner’s two- for-two punch-out; Anna Pogorilaya’s delivery of a sort of zest that no one else had, with attack and nearly flawless skating [she won the bronze]. Ten there were the stories others would talk
of in the arena and beyond: Mao Asada’s inspiring comeback (the triple Axel has returned); Satoko Miyahara’s ballet on ice; Elena Radionova proving
Wagner feels the crowd as she puts the cherry on the top of her silver-medal winning free skate.
2016 World ladies podium (l-r) Ashley Wagner (silver medalist), Evgenia Medvedeva (gold medalist from Russia), Anna Pogorilaya (bronze medalist from Russia)
she’s here to stay; and Mirai Nagasu, who also has a bittersweet relationship with TD Garden, skating cleanly — twice! — and reigniting a fire for Olym- pic success in the now-23-year-old. For the first time since 2005, the Japanese
ladies were left off the podium completely, going fifth (Miyahara), seventh and eighth (Asada and Rika Hongo). For Wagner, though, it was a story of re-
demption. She’ll turn 25 this month. “So many people in so many parts of my ca-
reer have said that this has been given to me, that I haven’t earned this,” Wagner told reporters after the free skate. “I earned this silver medal. I went out there and I did my job. Te fact that I have this medal because of what I did and not because of what other people did, that is so amazing.” Wagner won the U.S. its first ladies Worlds medal since Kimmie Meissner and Sasha Cohen went gold-bronze at the World Championships in 2006, a 10-year drought. Over. “Tat’s the end of a drought, right there,” Wagner said, pointing to the silver medal around
16 MAY 2016
BJAY ADEFF/U.S FIGURE SKATING
BILLIE WEISS - ISU/ISU VIA GETTY IMAGES
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