Ladies, Free Skating The Ladies event concluded with the Free Skating. The USA swept the Ladies podium for the second consecutive time. Newcomer Rachel Flatt edged out last year’s champion Caroline Zhang to take the title. Mirai Nagasu earned the bronze medal.
Flatt skated next to last and delivered a flawless program to “Romantic Rhapsody” by Mathieu. The 15-yearold reeled off a triple Salchow, triple Lutz-triple toeloop combination, at triple loop, triple flip, another triple Lutz and triple flip-double toe-double loop combination right at the end of her routine. She also produced solid spins and footwork, earning a level three for all of them. The American earned 112.03 points (61.74 element score/50.29 program component score), which was a new personal best for her. Overall she racked up 172.19 points to move up from third to claim the gold. When her marks came up, Flatt knew that she hada medal and applauded the score. She competed for the first time at Junior Worlds. “Today we all skated very well. It was a great competition and I’m really excited to be here.
Today I really wanted to achieve my goals and that’s what I did. I really wanted to do all my jumps and really skate my heart out. Going into every jump I knew that I trained very well and that I can do it. I really went out and attacked today, and I think that helped me skate as well as I could”, the new champion commented.
