GREENSBORO – Ryan Bradley botched the landings on a pair of quad jumps to finish fourth in the free skate on Sunday but still captured the men’s title at the US Figure Skating Championships. Bradley, who won the short programme Friday, stumbled on the finish of his first two jumps but was flawless the rest of the way to claim the crown with 231.90 points, 6.34 ahead of surprise runner-up Richard Dornbush.
“The quad is my money jump and I missed two at the start,” Bradley said. “I wanted to skate a perfect programme. I didn’t do it but I never stopped trying. I’m so glad I went out and fought.” Bradley, 27, was fourth at last year’s nationals to miss qualifying for the Vancouver Olympics by one spot, but will lead a trio of Americans to the World Championships in March at Tokyo after winning in his 11th trip to the US meet. “That was one of the hardest performances I’ve ever done,” Bradley said.
“This is unreal. I’m just waiting to wake up. I can’t believe this just happened.” Dornbush, 19, was seventh after the short programme and led the field overall in only his second nationals until Bradley bested him in the final performance of the competition. Dornbush, who did not even take the ice in the lead pack of six skaters, won the free skate with 157.85 points with Ross Miner second on 156.36 and Adam Rippon third on 153.78.
