2017 ISU WORLD CHAMPIONSHIPS
steps and choreography, and earned a personal best 93.10 points. He sat eighth heading into the free skate.
“I put my heart and soul into that perfor-
mance,” Brown told icenetwork. “Skating last was so exciting and nerve-wracking, after such incredible skates before me.” Brown — who had been landing quad toes in practices in Helsinki — fell on the
jump at the start of his free, set to music from Te Piano. His only other error was doubling an intended triple loop. He landed two superb triple Axels, one of which was combined with a triple toe, and an unusual triple Lutz-triple Salchow combination 15 seconds before the end of the program. His 176.47 points were another personal best, and his 269.57 point total put him seventh overall. “Of course, I would have wished to have landed the quad. Of course, I would have preferred to rotate the loop,” Brown said. “But I have no regrets. I left my heart and lungs on the ice today.” Brown’s seventh place, combined with
Chen’s sixth place, gained three U.S. men’s spots for PyeongChang, an improvement from the two spots the U.S. men held at the 2014 Games. For the first time in history, three
skaters from Asia swept the men’s medals at the World Championships: Hanyu won his second World gold with 321.59 points, fol- lowed by countryman Shoma Uno (319.31) and China’s Boyang Jin (303.58). Two-time
Jason Brown delights the crowd with his athleti- cism and artistry.
U.S. champion Karen Chen gives a sterling short program performance.
defending World champion Javier Fernandez of Spain led after the short program, but a dis- appointing free skate left him in fourth place.
LADIES U.S. champion Karen Chen peeked at
the leaderboard before her free skate warm-up. “I knew that I needed to skate pretty
close to clean,” said Chen, who held the U.S. ladies’ Olympic qualifying fate in her hands. “Right after I had that thought, I blocked it out right away. I realized that it’s my first time here and I wanted to enjoy this moment and I wanted to be relaxed and calm, because that’s when I skate best.” With three U.S. Olympic spots on the
line, Chen delivered a clutch free skate to “Jal- ousie Tango” that was fast and free-flowing. Her confidence and passion shone brightly. She made two late mistakes, falling on a triple
Lutz and stepping out of the landing on a double Axel.
“Tat was everything I dreamed of,”
Chen said. “Obviously, I made a mistake on the Lutz and last Axel, but I was happy with how the rest of the program came together.” Chen, making her Worlds debut, put herself in medal contention with a superb, self-choreographed short program to music from On Golden Pond by Dave Grusin. Her score of 69.98 points placed her fifth, just a couple of points behind the third-place skater. Te Fremont, California, native went on to finish sixth in the free skate and fourth overall with a total score of 199.29, and cou- pled with U.S. silver medalist Ashley Wagner’s seventh-place finish and score of 193.54, the United States earned three ladies spots for the 2018 Olympics. “Let’s take a moment to all thank
SKATING 23
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