NASHVILLE, Tenn. — Between the last two spins in her short program at the U.S. Figure Skating Championships on Thursday night, Mariah Bell only had one thought.
“I remember … just thinking, ‘OK, don’t trip here,’ ” she said.
Shortly thereafter, she was pumping her fist and flashing a huge smile, as fans at Bridgestone Arena applauded and threw toy flowers onto the ice.
With an emotional short program, Bell took an early lead in the women’s competition at nationals – the last competition before the U.S. Olympic figure skating team is named. She won the short program portion with a score of 75.55, one point ahead of second-place finisher Karen Chen, who also impressed.
Alysa Liu, 16, came in third with a score of 71.42 after failing to land her triple Axel.
For Bell, it was the first short-program victory of her career at nationals – and a performance that put her in prime position to earn one of the three spots on Team USA.
“I really worked on, the last couple seasons, trying to stay in the moment throughout the program,” Bell said. “Obviously as things are going well, there’s like an excitement that’s building. But a couple years ago, I fell on my footwork because I was getting a little ahead of myself. So I was trying to kind of keep myself mellow today.”
Bell, who is coached by 2018 Olympian Adam Rippon, hit a triple flip-triple toe loop combination early in her program and rode that momentum the rest of the way.
Chen, who skated directly after her, then turned…
