Skating long program

By: Dan Levinsohn. Copyright Scripps Media, Inc. All rights reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten, or redistributed. Report a typo. Friday night's women's free skate was upended when two-time national champion Alysa Liu, who came in third in Thursday's short program, withdrew after testing positive for COVID Friday morning. Mariah Bell took gold in women's free skate, while Karen Chen claimed silver and Isabeau Levito earned bronze.

Liu is the highest-ranking U. The U. Figure Skating Championships aren't an Olympic qualifying event; rather, a selection committee will name the team after taking into consideration results over the past year, dating back to the January U.

Liu will be able to petition for a spot on the Olympic team even though she didn't compete at the U. Bell was a contender for the Olympic team before finishing fifth at those nationals. She pressed on at an age when many skaters who miss an Olympics would have retired. Liu entered nationals as the favorite, even before the withdrawal of reigning champ Bradie Tennell and despite changing coaches and moving from California to Colorado since her most recent competition in November.

She has tried six triple Axels this season, and five have been downgraded or under-rotated including her attempt on Thursday. But Liu, who in became the youngest senior U. Amber Glenn , the U. Skaters at this elite level are aiming for Level 4 on all of their required level elements. PCS scores can range from 0. High and low scores are tossed out here as well, then each of the five categories are averaged and added together.

This total is multiplied by a set factor to ensure the technical and performance aspects of the program are balanced. Skaters earn bonus points for required elements in the second half of their program, since it is more difficult to complete those elements when fatigued. More difficult elements have a higher base value, and the grade of execution is factored to be worth more.

Skaters who utilize incorrect edges on jumps, which are identified by the edge and direction of their takeoff, are also penalized. For instance, the flip and lutz jumps take off on different edges of the blade: inside for flip and outside for lutz. If either of these jumps takes off of an incorrect edge, the skater's scoresheet is noted in one of two ways:.