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She had to wait three years for this, but Bradie Tennell won her second national title on Friday night at the 2021 U.S. Figure Skating Championships in Las Vegas.
Tennell had 153.21 points in free skating and a total of 232.61. She is the first woman in 101 years to spend three or more years between titles in women’s singles. (Tonya Harding won in 1991 and 1994, but was subsequently stripped of her title in 1994.)
She seemed relieved and elated as she finished her solid free skate, completing all seven triple jumps and knowing that she had done what she intended to do.
“Winning the title means everything to me,” Tennell said. “It was one of my driving forces behind my move to Colorado. It’s a driving force behind me that wakes me up every day. They say it’s about the journey, not the destination, but the destination is also very nice. “
Tennell left the Chicago suburbs, leaving his longtime trainer in Colorado Springs last summer.
After winning the national championships in 2018, when she was part of the Olympic team, Tennell had gone on to finish first in the short program in each subsequent year, but finished with silver in 2019 and bronze in 2020. She was joined both years on the podium by Alysa liu, the winner at 13 and 14, and Mariah bell.
The same three women were on the podium after Thursday’s short, but this time Liu would finish fourth and Bell fifth.
Amber glenn, surprising even itself, and Karen chen joined Tennell in the top three with totals of 215.33 and 214.98 respectively. Tennell’s margin of victory over Glenn was 17.28 points, the largest female margin since 2014, under a different scoring system.
Eyes wide as he could and filled with tears after receiving his score, Glenn was stunned by his score of 144.50 in free skating. It was a new personal best of over 19 points.
Now 21, Glenn won the junior title in 2014 and then continued to float just under the radar as a contender, her senior national results ranging from 13th in 2015 to as high as fifth last year.
“Wow, I’m still in a bit of shock,” she said, starting to speak to the media.
NATIONAL FIGURE SKATING: Full results | TV program
Glenn learned earlier today that she had a foot infection that had spread to her knee. Despite the injury, she managed to put in a strong performance, claiming she was skating for herself. She had hoped this week to become the fifth American woman to land a triple Axel, but failed to attempt it in her short program.
“I kind of freed myself from all of that expectation and pressure, and I let myself go,” said Glenn.
Chen, the 2017 winner and 2018 Olympian, hit her best ranking since the Olympic year with a free skating score of 143.99.
Despite being the two-time defending champion, Liu said she came in expecting the “bare minimum” of herself. She grew three inches in the offseason, which meant relearning a lot of her jumps and keeping her triple Axel and quad lutz out of this week’s schedules, and suffered a hip injury in October.
“It was a very cool experience, especially because it was my first live competition [of the season]; I was happy to be here, ”said Liu, who said she can’t wait to go home and train her quads.
Bell entered as the favorite for the title after winning both competitions this season, the ISP Points Virtual Challenge and Skate America. Fifth after the short program, she fell to a distant fifth after falling on her opening triple flip, among other mistakes. Her free skate scored 127.58 points.
Audrey Shin, the surprise bronze medalist at Skate America in her first senior season, went from 10th after the court to seventh with a redemptive free skate that scored 119.08 for a total of 176.82.
Olympian 2014 Gracie Gold was 13th, falling one spot from his short program placement after falling twice in free skating.
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