I admit, I did not sign up for an ice network pass to watch pairs or ice dancing, and further, I have to admit that I'm just not excited about either of those areas of skating. US pairs has always seemed like the red-headed-stepchild of the pairs skating on the World Level, and While Davis/White in ice dancing paint a pretty picture on the ice, I just don't like Meryl Davis. There's something about here that reads "not nice", and I can't make myself like her or care about her skating.
That being said, I was thrilled that the ladies had prime time coverage last night and I truly enjoyed watching the programs. Alyssa Czisny finally seems to have put the past completely behind her and the momentum from her amazing showing in the Grand Prix finals really served her well in this competition. Her program was beautiful...simply beautiful. I couldn't take my eyes off the screen the entire time she skated. Rachel Flatt and Marai Nagasu both had good programs, but small mistakes couldn't hold up next to Czisny's near flalwess performance.
However, I think the bigger story of the evening was the other young women in the top six. Agnes Zawadzki and Christina Gaso had stellar Senior-National debuts and Ashely Wagner proved that she's not just an "also ran" even though she didn't medal this year. It is good to know that there are skaters in the wings wating to rise to the top behind the "Usual top 3" and that ladies figure skating in the US is not goign to diminish in world competitiveness any time soon.
On a personal note, Christina Gao is a member of the Northern Kentucky Figure Skating club and skates at the same rink where I once skated. She didn't start skating until after I was no longer with NKFSC, but it amuses me to know that my former club is growing national level skaters of Christina's caliber.
It was an excellent evening of skating in North Carolina!
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