US Figure Skating Championship 2013: Top Performers at Event
It was an eventful race for the gold for both the men and women at the 2013 U.S. Figure Skating Championships in Omaha, Neb.
The men saw a first-time winner as Max Aaron, 20, pieced together a beautiful free skate to jump to the top of the leaderboard.
Meanwhile, Ashley Wagner defended her title on the women's side, but her free skate was not nearly as flawless. Check out the men's and women's medalists, and then we will further discuss the action.
Men's Medalists
Gold: Max Aaron, 255
Silver: Ross Miner, 251.29
Bronze: Jeremy Abbott, 249.33
Women's Medalists
Gold: Ashley Wagner, 188.84
Silver: Gracie Gold, 186.57
Bronze: Agnes Zawadzki, 179.63
Wagner joined some nice company by picking up her second-straight gold at this event. U.S. Figure Skating tweeted this impressive tidbit:
Wagner can thank her wonderful short program for this win.
Her free skate was not up to her standards as she stumbled twice.
This was in stark contrast to second-place finisher Gracie Gold. The 17-year-old struggled in the short program and was in ninth place after that event.
She did not struggle in the free skate.
Gold turned in the highest-scoring free skate of the event, and the second-highest in its history. However, it still was not enough to make up the gap on Wagner.
On the men's side. Max Aaron's free skate was enough to jump to the top of the podium as the youngster went from fourth to first on the strength of this skate:
It was quickly apparent that this was going to be a special skate for Aaron. He landed two quad salchows in the opening moments.
What a statement this made for the 2011 junior champion, and he left with the hardware to show for it.
His jump to first was made possible after Jeremy Abbott, who had won this event in three of the past four years, botched his free skate and wound up in third.
