Wow. OMG DAMN what an event!!!
I dunno what to say...I guess I'll start at the beginning -
First, Rachel Flatt - she has REALLY become a performer on the ice. I know she has been forgotten amidst the drama that unfolded later (we'll get to that in a moment), but I'll just like to point out that I like this Rachel much better than the one that went to Vancouver in 2010. Too bad her other skating qualities (jumps in particular) deteriorated so...it's clear she likes to skate and I appreciate that she showed us why, mistakes aside. Isn't this her last nationals? Maybe her last competition? Sounds like she will retire afterwards and throw herself 100% into Stanford/medical school. Best of luck to her.
Sad for Zawadzki once again that she couldn't overcome her FS demons even after having the pressure of Olympic qualifying lifted off her. It would have been nice to have her go out on her own terms with a performance she could be proud of...Now she's at a crossroads regarding her career. Does she retire...or does she undergo a Wagner-like transformation and work her way back into the mix over the next quad? I still think she has the talent...but if she doesn't do something big soon, she risks being surpassed/forgotten. I know she wanted this bad - sad to see. Never fun seeing someone's dreams crushed.
Sounds like Hicks was able to redeem herself (icenetwork did not show her performance, though, and neither did NBC)...same with Cesario. Good for them, and even though they ultimately came up short of the Olympics, they can be proud of their efforts and the way they fought.
Group 3 started strong...great performances from Barbie Long and Leah Keiser as well.
Final group...Christina Gao...oh man, this is where things began to get seriously funky. She started off very well but just couldn't hold it together during the performance. Local/hometown favorite pressure, perhaps? Anyway, she took a year off Harvard to fulfill her Olympic dream but wasn't able to completely recover from the egg she laid at TEB a couple months earlier. Might be the end of her career as well...
Wagner...holy cow. Where do I start? I was on Twitter during the freeskates and I said on there that although earlier I was not nervous for Wagner...just as she was about to take the ice, suddenly I began feeling uneasy, but wasn't exactly sure why. Normally she relishes this position...coming from behind, skating before all those ahead of her...but I dunno, there was still so much at stake - the Olympic team, being defending champ, high expectations - that ended up with her having her worst competition since 2008 Worlds. Now, granted she did not melt down - even with two falls, she fought through it and never gave up - on a night like this, you just have to bring it. That's just the way it goes...you've got to rise to the occasion. It was complete deja vu for her - just like in 2010, those ahead of her did not give an inch and delivered solid freeskates, maintaining their positions above her. Seeing her break down in the K&C afterwards was probably one of the toughest things I've ever had to watch in my 12 years following this sport. Almost up there with MK missing out on the OGM a 2nd time in 2002. Yikes...
Cain - again, a promising SP followed by a sub-par freeskate. Shades of Zawadzki...she's gonna need to pull herself together if she wants more success. She has the goods to compete with the best statewide, she just needs to be mentally tougher. More tears. More heartbreak.
Edmunds - WOW...despite that fall she made a statement tonight...she has certainly arrived, and in a big way. She might very well be the future of US skating. This is one area where my prediction was off base- I figured she might place well, but assumed she wasn't ready yet and would probably finish a strong 4th-6th. This girl just threw the largest of monkey wrenches into this whole Sochi equation. What do you do with her? She certainly made her case for the team tonight...she's ready to go and ready to announce to the world that she has arrived...
Nagasu - Another WOW. I had Nagasu as the dark horse/wildcard for this event and knew that if she just laid down the FS she is capable of doing instead of making stupid mistakes/URing jumps or melting down, that she would be RIGHT in the mix. What a personal victory for her...4 years of struggle after her energetic debut in Vancouver - to fight back like this (coachless!!) and get back on the National podium...she has every right to be proud. Definitely a success story right here...
Gold - This gets the biggest WOW of the night. What a transformation. I said all along that our best hopes for a ladies' medal in Sochi is a 100% Gracie Gold. I had my doubts that we'd ever get that Gold to show up, but what Frank Carroll has been able to do in just two months with her is quite amazing. Not only did he give her more presence but he also seemed to give her more confidence, which enabled her to compete almost as well as she practices (which has been phenomenal, BTW...she ROCKS practices). To me, the message tonight is clear - the guard has changed and we now have a new US ladies frontrunner for a Olympic/world medal. Congrats Ms Gold...now every bit deserving of the name...
So...about that Olympic team again? What do you do here? I will not answer that in this post, but I will say this - the committee is between a rock and a hard place on this one. Regardless of the decision they make they will be blasted for it, so may as well make the call that gives us the best chance of Olympic success, whatever that may be.
RD out...
