Wagner ‘shines’ to help U.S. move on

Sochi, Russia (SportsNetwork.com) – Controversy followed Ashley Wagner to Sochi but the U.S. figure skater came through in a big way in her Olympic debut.

Skating to Pink Floyd’s “Shine On You Crazy Diamond,” Wagner helped the U.S. make the final five in the team figure skating event on Saturday.

She placed fourth out of 10 skaters in the women’s short program behind Yulia Lipnitskaya of Russia, Carolina Kostner of Italy and Mao Asada of Japan. Canada’s Kaetlyn Osmond was fifth.

Wagner’s performance along with Meryl Davis and Charlie White’s first-place finish in the short dance earlier Saturday vaulted the U.S. from a three-way tie for fifth place into third behind Russia and Canada.

Japan, Italy and France also qualified to move on to the pairs free program. Russia leads with 37 points, Canada has 32 and the U.S. 27.

Marissa Castelli and Simon Shnapir will skate next for the U.S. and Kirsten Moore-Towers and Dylan Moscovitch will go for Canada.

Medals for this new Olympic event will be awarded Sunday following free skates for the men and women and ice dancing.

Wagner, 22, was picked for the U.S. team over Mirai Nagasu, who skated at the 2010 Olympics and finished third at the U.S. championships. Wagner was fourth but got the nod in a hotly-debated decision that left Nagasu publicly disappointed.

Lipnitskaya led with a score of 72.90. Wagner received a 63.10 to earn seven points and Osmond got six points for Canada with a score of 62.54.

Davis and White, the six-time reigning U.S. champions 2010 Olympic silver medalists, scored a 75.98 skating to “I Could Have Danced All Night” to earn 10 points for the U.S.

Canada’s Tessa Virtue and Scott Moir, the reigning Olympic champions and Davis and White’s main rivals, finished second with 72.98 points. Russia’s Ekaterina Bobrova and Dmitri Soloviev were third with a score of 70.27.

Davis and White skated as a French report drew attention for quoting an anonymous Russian coach as saying there was a deal between the U.S. and Russian teams to help each other win gold medals.

The sports newspaper L’Equipe reported that Russia would help Davis and White win the ice dance competition in exchange for help in winning the pairs and team events.

U.S. Figure Skating denied the report in a statement, saying the comments in the story were “categorically false.”

“There is no ‘help’ between countries,” it said. “We have no further response to rumors, anonymous sources or conjecture.”

Categorized in: Olympics