Youth served as Karen Chen wins women's title at U.S. figure skating championships

KANSAS CITY, Mo. — For all its beauty, figure skating can be a brutal sport. It rewards the young, then often sends them to the discard pile before they graduate from high school.

And the old? As in the 20-somethings? If they succeed in persevering that long, if their doubts don’t get to them, the next little jumping bean usually will.

This brings us to Saturday night’s women’s long program at the 2017 U.S. national championships. Youth was served in the surprising but well-deserved victory of 17-year-old Karen Chen, who followed her short program win Thursday night with another flawless performance to capture her first national title, setting up the possibility that the two individual events here will be won by one skater named Chen after another.

Nathan Chen, also 17, has an almost insurmountable lead going into Sunday’s men’s long program. Karen and Nathan are not related.

Then there was age. In one moment, two-time national champion and Olympic team bronze medalist Gracie Gold, a well-known veteran at 21, was melting down on the ice, which has become a sad and troubling ritual for her this season.

But in another, 25-year-old Ashley Wagner, the reigning world silver medalist and Olympic team bronze medalist who has spun one of the most compelling stories of survival and triumph in this unforgiving sport, was rising to the occasion yet again to finish in the top three at the nationals for the seventh time in 10 years.

By winning the silver medal, Wagner, a three-time national champion, becomes what is believed to be the oldest U.S. women’s medalist since before World War II.

"You had to mention a World War," she said with a laugh.

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Then, suddenly, she was choked up. "I’m getting emotional just because this is so hard what I do and I am so proud that I am still here today. I was 16 at my first world championships and I’m here and I’m 25 and it’s almost 10 years later. That’s something that you just don’t see in this sport and I’m here because I love it and I am so stubborn."

Even though she ended up in second place by 2½ points, Wagner will lead the way for the three American women (20-year-old newcomer Mariah Bell finished third) into the world championships in two months in Helsinki, a crucial test because it will determine whether the United States can send three women to next year’s Olympic Games. It’s a role she relishes, but it’s one that she likely will not share this time with her longtime rival, Gold, who dropped to sixth place after a dreadful skate in which she made mistake after mistake.

"She has been in a deep, deep, deep depression," Gold’s coach, the venerable Frank Carroll, said after her performance. He was carrying Gold’s U.S. team warmup, which he soon deposited into a nearby trash can.

"That’s what I was told to do," Carroll said curtly, referring to orders from Gold.

Whatever is wrong with Gold, there appears to be no simple solution or easy fix.

"Obviously I had a very terrible long program and I didn’t place very well and I got a low score," Gold said dispassionately. "It’s just something about this year, I’ve been in a funk. I’m glad this is not the Olympic year."

Then, for the second time in three days, Gold said something most interesting. She said she deserved to be placed on the U.S. world championship team by U.S. Figure Skating’s international committee, which was meeting late Saturday night, per USFS rules, to ratify the three skaters it will send to worlds.

"Yes, of course," Gold said, "even though today’s skating was subpar, there’s not a doubt in my mind that this has been a rough season, but that I’m still pretty much one of the best skaters in the United States and in the world. ... All I know is that, given the opportunity, I wouldn’t let them down and I think that I would be a very wise pick for the world team."

As figure skating quotes go, that one was a doozy, although anything is possible. Michelle Kwan was placed on the 2006 Olympic team after not competing in the national championships that year due to injury, and Wagner was placed on the 2014 Olympic team after finishing fourth at nationals that year. But Wagner had been by far the best U.S. skater in the year preceding the Sochi Olympics, and Kwan was Kwan.

Gold, on the other hand, has been so unpredictable and, frankly, awful, this season that it would be a ridiculous risk for USFS to send her to worlds. It also would seem to be a good opportunity for Gold to take some time off and figure out what she wants to do moving forward. And it would be best for the Americans to send skaters who are on top of their game now, which Chen, Wagner and Bell certainly are.

"Right now, you are looking at something that is very exciting for U.S. figure skating," Wagner said. "I think to have a fresh crop of young girls, someone who will take over once the veterans retire, I think that is something that is so exciting for U.S. figure skating and that’s something that we really haven’t had a glimpse of for the past couple of years."

That would be out with the old, in with the new — with the exception of the most veteran among them.

Follow columnist Christine Brennan on Twitter @cbrennansports.