US women headed for worst figure skating finish in Olympics

GANGNEUNG, South Korea (AP) — One by one, the best in American figure skating fell to the ice, their Olympic hopes dashed in the opening seconds of their short programs at the Pyeongchang Games.

It was emblematic of the state of U.S. figure skating.

Sure, Nathan Chen did rebound from a dismal short program to have the highest-scoring free skate in the men's Olympic program. The Shibutani siblings, Maia and Alex, won ice dance bronze. The U.S. squad even managed to hold off Italy and Japan to win bronze in the team event.

But for the every-four-year fan, figure skating begins and ends with the women, and there was no doubt during Wednesday's short program that the U.S. has fallen well behind its rivals.

Bradie Tennell went down first. Mirai Nagasu went down later. And when Karen Chen hit the deck, the Americans were left with their worst short program showing in any Olympics, and now face the prospect of their worst performance overall unless they rally in Friday's free skate.

So why did everything go wrong? When did the once-proud nation that produced seven gold medalists between the 1952 Oslo Games and the 2006 Turin Games get lapped by Russia, Japan and Canada?

Source: Yahoo News