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Alysa Liu narrowly missed joining an exclusive club of women’s figure skaters to land a triple axel at the Winter Olympics, but still finished Thursday as the highest-scoring of the three Americans at the Beijing Games.
Entering the long program in eighth place, Liu went for big scores by trying to become the sixth woman ever to land the forward-starting triple axel at the Olympics, but she under-rotated her feet. She also missed a built-in scoring bonus for putting a triple-triple combination in the second half of her four-minute program by just one second.
But Liu, 16, still led the field until the final six skaters took the ice. Liu’s ability to attempt strenuous jumps is the United States’ best hope to compete on the world stage against the explosive power of the Russian Olympic Committee skaters. She already is a two-time US national champion.
Nearly a decade older than Liu, Mariah Bell, 25, was nearly flawless in her program, though it could not compete with the artistry and technical merit at the top of the field. The reigning national champion triumphantly landed a triple lutz and was overcome by tears of joy as she finished her one and only Olympics. After starting the long program in 11th place, Bell guaranteed herself a top-10 finish.
Karen Chen didn’t match her fellow Americans in rising to the moment, however.
The 22-year-old former national champion put her hand down on one jump for a scoring deduction, lost six points by singling a triple lutz and fell to the ice attempting a triple loop. She entered the long program in 13th place but allowed four skaters who scored lower than her in the short program to jump in front when scores from the two competitions were combined.
Liu finished seventh with a total overall score of 208.95, while Bell placed 10th with an overall score of 202.30.
The headliner of the program, Russia’s Kamila Valieva, who was nearly disqualified after a positive for a banned substance in December surfaced at the Olympics, stunningly fell out of medal contention Thursday with one of the worst performances of her career. The 15-year-old finished in fourth place, with her ROC teammates, Anna Shcherbakova and Sasha Trusova, receiving the gold and silver medals respectively. Japan’s Kaori Sakamoto won bronze.
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