GREENSBORO, N.C. (AP) — Fragile no more, Alissa Czisny is a champion once again.
Czisny proved she finally has the mettle to match her
considerable talent in winning her second title at the U.S. Figure
Skating Championships on Saturday night, keeping her cool while Rachael
Flatt and Mirai Nagasu wilted under the pressure.
Her final score
of 191.24 points was almost eight better than Flatt, astonishing
considering the three previous champions began the night separated by
only a point.
Flatt, the defending champ, scored 183.28 while
Nagasu was a distant — and disappointing — third at 177.26.
Earlier
Saturday, Caitlin Yankowskas and John Coughlin won their first pairs
title with what could be the most powerful performance of the entire
competition. Their angelic "Ave Maria" is a tribute to Coughlin’s
mother, Stacy, who got him started in skating and passed away last
February.
"I told myself no matter what we did today, to get out
there on the ice and perform that program was going to be a happy moment
for me," said Coughlin, who buried his face in Yankowskas’ hands when
they finished.
Also, Olympic silver medalists Meryl Davis and
Charlie White easily won their third straight dance title to lead a
1-2-3 sweep by their rink in Canton, Mich. Davis and White’s only losses
over the last two seasons are two Olympic champions Tessa Virtue and
Scott Moir, but their steamy tango served notice they intend to end the
American oh-fer atop the world dance podium.
No one has ever
questioned Czisny’s athleticism, beauty or
elegance. Her head, however, was a different matter. After winning the
title in 2009, she flopped at worlds, helping cost the Americans a third
spot at the Vancouver Olympics. She was out of the running for
Vancouver after a dismal performance in the short program, an experience
she called a "heartbreak" earlier this week.
But she’s switched
coaches and gone through intense introspection since then, coming out of
it a much stronger skater.
This was the signature performance of
her career thus far, showing all of her trademark elegance and more than
a little guts. She had to fight hard to save the landing on a triple
loop, and all of the rest of her jumps — six triples, three of which
were in combination — were flawless. Skating to George Winston’s "Winter
into Spring," she looked both delicate and powerful.
Her edge
quality is so first-class, her tracings could be sold as artwork. Her
spirals were exquisite, prompting the oohs and aahs Michelle Kwan and
Sasha Cohen used to hear.
When her scores were posted, Czisny’s eyes widened and her mouth dropped open.
Though
Czisny would never say it out loud, she may as
well have looked at her younger two challengers and said, "Go ahead,
top this. I dare you."
Neither could.
Flatt’s performance
was, well, flat. Looking as if she was trying to play it safe instead of
attacking as she usually does, the landing of her double axel-triple
toe combo was shaky and she then watered down a planned triple lutz into
a double. She didn’t have anywhere close to her usual speed, either.
Nagasu
is supremely talented, and has the potential to be the kind of breakout
star U.S. figure skating has craved since Kwan and Cohen hung it up.
But the 17-year-old doesn’t have quite the confidence in herself others
do, and those doubts tend to come out at the most inopportune times.
Like
Saturday.
Her blades were wiggling as she went into her first
jump, a triple lutz-double toe combination, and her program was almost
one dimensional she displayed so little of her usual personality. She
lost the title when she stepped out of the landing of her Ina Bauer into
a double axel, and likely cost herself a spot on the world team when
she two-footed the landing of her death drop and pretty much stopped
spinning.
The U.S. women have only two spots for a third straight
year.
Nagasu looked downcast as she waited for her marks, and
appeared to be fighting back tears when she heard the chasm that stood
between her and Czisny.