You couldn’t write a more dramatic finish to the women’s finals of the 2020 U.S. Figure Skating Championships in Greensboro, N.C.
As last year’s champion 14-year old Alysa Liu skated last. While waiting Friday evening, she saw Bradie Tennell, the woman who led the scoring after the short program Thursday, falter in her last jump in the long program.
Next, Liu clapped along with the audience as they cheered the third place woman Mariah Bell skate the program of her life, punctuated with seven triple jumps, to move into first place.
Liu took to the ice while the cheers for Bell still echoed in the arena. “I was like, ‘wow,'” she told NBC afterwards. “I was kind of clapping along with the crowd . . . I was kind of inspired by her emotion and her happiness.”
She didn’t waste any time. Right from the start, she did a triple axel, followed by the quad lutz, followed by another triple axel. In doing so, she became the first female skater to land the quad lutz at US Nationals.
Her athleticism and skill moved her past the two other women. Up until then, it had been a close contest with only a couple points separating the top three. She ended up 10 points over the second place finisher.
Olympian Karen Chen came in fourth place.
Despite her first-place, Bell and Tennell will represent the US in international competitions this season because Liu is still too young.
Liu will become 16 and age-eligible for international competition in 2022, just in time for the Winter Olympics. She is set to be the United States’ best hope in medaling in women’s figure skating in the last ten years.
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