2010 US Figure Skating Championships: Rachael Flatt wins gold in senior ladies, Mirai Nagasu silver and Ashley Wagner bronze -- Sasha Cohen denied a medal

 
Another exciting final at the 2010 U.S. Figure Skating Championships in Spokane, Washington, as Rachael Flatt chalks up an extraordinarily powerful free skate to Variations on a Theme by Paganini to capture the gold by nearly 12 points. She had a command of the ice and skated with an, "What? I'm in third place after the short? We're gonna change that right here, right now." Her five different triples and a triple flip- triple toe combination were the most consistent and difficult of the top ladies and she racked up 130.76 points in the free skate and 200.11 overall.

Mirai Nagasu also looked great skating to Carmen, but it only got her third place in the free and the silver overall. Although Mirai had the more exciting-looking program, it was not as technically difficult as Rachael's, a few of her jumps were downgraded and she ended up with 118.72 points for the free skate and 188.78 point overall. I watched on television and could hear a gasp from the audience because some thought she had won or at least, scored higher, but that's what the new judging system is all about. Mirai may have had the pure performance quality and "It" factor package, but Rachael had the complete package with a little less "It" factor. Who cares at the end of the day? I can't believe both ladies won't be packing their bags to Vancouver for the 2010 Winter Olympics. [UPDATE: Rachael and Mirai were elected to represent the ladies at the Olympics.]

Ashley Wagner, who was fourth after the short, posted a strong second place showing in the free skate, which won her the bronze. And Sasha Cohen, the media darling of the entire event, just couldn't put it together for her last skate and finished fourth in both the free and overall. But thank you Sasha for reminding all of us what the standard should be for the Program Component Scores. We needed you at Nationals to put it in perspective and you did just that.   

Below are the final results. Also, we spoke to Rachael just a few weeks ago in New York City when she skated on the Today Show. I've included an interview we did with her, as well as a slideshow of her performance that day. At the time, I described Rachael as winsome and wholesome -- a nice, smart high school senior who just now happens to be the US ladies figure skating champion. That's a nice thing to put on your college application, isn't it? Maybe she'll put it under "Other Interests and Accolades." She.told me in NYC that she is impressed with Stanford and Princeton and will take into account training facilities when making her final decision.

Below are the results for the senior ladies after the short program. Note: SP=Short Program and FS=Free Skate. Points are the sum of the Total Element Score (TES) + Total Component Score (TCS). Think of the TES as the technical marks and the TCS as the artistic marks which take into account skating skills, footwork, performance, choreography and interpretation.

Rank	Name	SP	FS	Points
1	Rachael Flatt, Broadmoor SC	69.35	130.76	200.11
2	Mirai Nagasu, Pasadena FSC	70.06	118.72	188.78
3	Ashley Wagner, SC of Wilmington Inc	62.55	122.15	184.70
4	Sasha Cohen, Orange County FSC	69.63	104.65	174.28
5	Christina Gao, Northern Kentucky SC	56.26	100.27	156.53
6	Amanda Dobbs, Peninsula SC	56.11	94.61	150.72
7	Beatrisa Liang, All Year FSC	51.98	95.73	147.71
8	Alexe Gilles, Broadmoor SC	53.54	89.77	143.31
9	Emily Hughes, SC of New York Inc	53.75	86.85	140.60
10	Alissa Czisny, Detroit SC	54.18	86.19	140.37
11	Caroline Zhang, All Year FSC	49.94	88.33	138.27
12	Melissa Bulanhagui, Uni. of Delaware FSC	45.60	83.61	129.21
13	Becky Bereswill, Houston FSC	44.60	83.36	127.96
14	Samantha Cesario, SC of New York Inc	44.33	74.87	119.20
15	Laney Diggs, All Year FSC	42.87	71.51	114.38
16	Kristiene Gong, All Year FSC	48.11	64.81	112.92
17	Blake Rosenthal, SC of Wilmington Inc	43.43	68.99	112.42
18	Chelsea Morrow, Greater Grand Rapids FSC	46.35	65.38	111.73
19	Christina-Maria Sperduto, St Paul FSC	31.62	78.27	109.89
20	Tatyana Khazova, Broadmoor SC	41.63	67.26	108.89
21	Ellie Kawamura, All Year FSC	33.51	69.82	103.33
22	Rebecca Stern, University of Delaware FSC	32.49	64.73	97.22
*	Kayla Howey, DuPage FSC	35.59	NA	Withdrew

Comments

[Terran Stryder]

Sahsa received a Pewter Medal quite graciously. I'm not sure what she was denied other than a fair, non-sensational headline.

[rida]

very well

www.dailyinside.us

http://wolrdnews2.blogspot.com/

[anonymous]

Nagasu looked so much better than Flatt, but yet scored so much lower. Flatt looked like she also under-rotated her jumps.

[abaca]

Flatt is an athlete... that is all. Her skating is clumsy even on a good day.

[professional wordpress themes]

I'm not sure what she was denied other than a fair, non-sensational headline.

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