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And the new U.S. women’s figure skating champion is...

By Helene Elliott
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CLEVELAND -- Alissa Czisny wanted the moment to be perfect when she took the ice with the U.S. women’s figure skating title on the line Saturday night.

Instead, it turned out to be perfectly adequate.

Czisny, of Bowling Green, Ohio, fell on a planned triple lutz and landed only three clean triple jumps in her long program. But the lead she had built in the short program proved to be enough for her to win with 178.06 points, with Rachael Flatt of Del Mar second at 173.78.

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Defending champion Mirai Nagasu of Arcadia had a better performance in her free skate than in her short program but could pull up only one spot, to fifth. Caroline Zhang of Irvine was third, at 171.08 points.

The top two women qualified for the world championships, to be held at Staples Center in March. U.S. Figure Skating officials were to verify that later Saturday night.

-- Helene Elliott

Sports Now
Helene Elliott

Helene Elliott was with the Los Angeles Times’ Sports department from 1989 to 2024, first as a staff writer and then, starting in 2006, as a columnist. She became the first female journalist to be honored with a plaque in the Hall of Fame of a major professional sport as the 2005 winner of the Hockey Hall of Fame’s Elmer Ferguson Award, awarded to writers “who have brought honor to journalism and to hockey.” A native of Brooklyn, N.Y., and graduate of Northwestern University’s Medill School of Journalism, she has covered 18 Olympics.

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