GREENSBORO – Alissa Czisny, who pondered retirement after a poor 2010 season, won her second women’s crown in three seasons by taking Saturday’s free skate at the US Figure Skating Championships. Czisny brought spectators to their feet with a spectacular performance that enabled her to win the long programme with 128.74 points and finish on 191.24 points, 7.86 points ahead of runner-up Rachael Flatt, who won the 2010 title.
“It was awesome,” Czisny said. “I’m just so happy to have gone out there and done the best I can do.” Czisny struggled last year and said she was heartbroken after struggling in her title defense last season. “It’s pretty exciting to come back after thinking about quitting and be able to find my love for the sport again and be able to share that with everybody,” Czisny said.
Flatt was trying to become the first woman since Michelle Kwan to defend a US crown, but she skated a single lutz instead of a triple lutz early in her performance and stepped out on another landing, ending her title hopes. “That was frustrating,” Flatt said. Mirai Nagasu, the 2008 US champion, won the short programme but came on the ice following Czisny and made minor errors that foiled her title bid, the biggest of them stepping out of a double axel landing.
Nagasu was third overall on 177.26 points and third in the free skate on 113.91, but only two women advanced to the World Championships in March at Tokyo. In earlier free skate finals, Vancouver Olympic silver medalists Meryl Davis and Charlie White captured their third consecutive US dance title while Caitlin Yankowskas and John Coughlin won their first US pairs crown. Davis and White, who won the short dance Friday, skated a tango routine to capture the free dance with 109.44 points to finish atop the overall standings with 185.48 points, 12.3 points ahead of runners-up Maia and Alex Shibutani.
“It’s not (getting old),” Davis said. “It’s so wonderful.” The couple have stressed that after falling one spot short of Olympic gold, their goal for this season is winning a world title. “I think we’ve got a great shot,” White said. “We’ve got to keep improving but this is a great start.” The Shibutani siblings, last year’s US junior champions and world junior runners-up, were second in the free dance with 102.71 points.
Madison Chock and Greg Zuerlein were third overall with 154.62 after finishing third in the free dance with 92.88 points. In the pairs, Yankowskas and Coughlin, never before in the top five at nationals, took the overall title with 188.45 points to 185.22 for Evora and Ladwig. Both qualified for the worlds.
Performing to “Ave Maria”, the US duo followed up their short programme triumph on Thursday by taking the free skate with 124.15 points, 1.80 ahead of runners-up Amanda Evora and Mark Ladwig. Defending champions Caydee Denney and Jeremy Barrett were third with 175.49. Davis, White defend US ice dance title: Vancouver Olympic silver medalists Meryl Davis and Charlie White captured their third consecutive dance title at the US Figure Skating Championships by winning Saturday’s free dance.
Davis and White, who won the short dance Friday, skated a tango routine to capture the free dance with 109.44 points to finish atop the overall standings with 185.48 points, 12.3 points ahead of runners-up Maia and Alex Shibutani. “It’s not (getting old),” Davis said. “It’s so wonderful.” The couple has stressed that after falling one spot short of Olympic gold, their goal for this season is winning at the World Championships in March at Tokyo.
