US Figure Skating Championships 2018: Results, Latest Schedule After Friday

Karen Chen set out to defend her United States title when the Championship Ladies competition wrapped up Friday in the 2018 U.S. Figure Skating Championships at SAP Center in San Jose, California.

Chen posted a 69.48 overall score in the short program portion, which put her in third place ahead of the free skate. Bradie Tennell set a high bar to clear, though. Tennell had a final score of 73.79, which was a record at the U.S. championships.

The Championship Ladies event closed out Friday's action, with the Championship Pairs getting things underway in the afternoon.

Saturday Schedule

Championship Pairs (Free Skate): 2:40 p.m. ET

Championship Men (Free Skate): 7 p.m. ET

Friday Results

Championship Dance (Short Dance)

Maia and Alex Shibutani are sitting pretty Friday after posting a score of 82.33 in the short dance portion. The siblings hold a 3.23-point gap on Madison Hubbell and Zachary Donohue, who sit in second place.

A pair of step sequences represented the bulk of the Shibutanis' scoring from their planned elements. Each step sequence carried an 8.60 base value, while they earned 2.67 and 3.30, respectively, for their grade of execution.

The result was to be expected. The Shibutanis were the gold medal winners in ice dancing in 2016 and 2017 at the U.S. championships, and they placed third at the Grand Prix final in December. They're the most dominant pair in U.S. figure skating and showed why again Friday.

Last year, Madison Chock and Evan Bates gave the Shibutanis a run for their money, finishing just 1.01 points behind at last year's event. This time around, Chock and Bates have their work cut out for them if they're going to dethrone the two-time reigning champions.

They sit in third place with a score of 77.61. Erasing a difference of 4.72 points will be extremely difficult when they return to the ice Sunday.

Championship Ladies (Free Skate)

Bradie Tennell proved brilliant during Wednesday's short program, and she didn't skip a beat Friday with a national championship hanging in the balance. 

After rattling off a mark of 73.09 in the short portion of the competition, Tennell bested the field with a free skate score of 145.72 to finish more than five points clear of silver medalist Mirai Nagasu. 

Nagasu, who posted a 140.75 free skate oFriday and sat at 213.84 overall, is now in position to represent the United States at the 2018 Winter Olympics in Pyeongchang, South Korea, after she was controversially left off the national team four years ago. 

Rounding out the top three was 2017 U.S. Champion Karen Chen, who clocked in a final score of 198.59.

Ashley Wagner, who finished seventh in the women's singles at the 2014 Olympics, sat just off the podium in fourth (196.19).