For the U.S. women competing at the 2017 World Figure Skating Championships in Helsinki this week, the already-intense pressure to skate well was escalated by the pressure to earn spots for the 2018 Olympic team.
The 2018 Winter Olympics will take place next winter in South Korea, and the results from Helsinki determine how many competitors from each country may compete in the games. If two skaters have a combined ranking of 13th place or lower, they earn their country three spots on the Olympic team. Americans Mariah Bell, Ashley Wagner, and 2017 national champion Karen Chen knew that there was no room for error.
However, the U.S women soon found themselves in a perilous situation. Mariah Bell found herself in 13th place in the short program and in 9th place after the short, leaving Wagner and Chen to defend the U.S rankings.
Then, although the stress of the situation was not new to Team USA veteran Wagner — who secured the third spot for the 2014 Olympics in Sochi — her nerves got the better of her. Wagner placed 7th in the short program and skated a disappointing long program. Her scores placed her in 4th place for the time being, but there were still five more skaters, including Chen, to go. It became clear that the U.S. women’s ability to earn three Olympic spots was resting on the shoulders of 17-year-old Karen Chen, who would have to skate a near-perfect long program so that Chen and Wagner’s rankings would add up to a score of 13 or lower.
“I needed to skate pretty close to clean,” said Chen in an NBC interview. “Right after I had that thought, I blocked it out right away and just realized that I’m here, and it’s my first time here and I wanted to enjoy this moment and I want to be relaxed and calm because that’s when I know I skate best.”
Indeed, Chen managed to block out the nerves, landing six out of seven triple jumps in a ferociously-fought long program. Her soaring jumps and lyrical presence captivated the audience, and her fierce attack shot her into first place in the long program with only four skaters left to go.
The final results of the competition placed Chen in 4th place and Wagner in 7th, meaning that their combined rank of 11 secured three places for women on the 2017 U.S Olympic team.
Chen’s single-handed save did not go unnoticed, but teammate Ashley Wagner was especially grateful: