KANSAS CITY, Mo. — Karen Chen probably didn’t see Ashley Wagner giving her a curt nod from the ice, not with her face buried in her hands after another memorable performance at the U.S. figure skating championships.
The three-time champion was focused on warming up for her own performance in the free skate, yet Wagner couldn’t help but acknowledge near-perfection — and the standard she now faced.
Wagner proceeded to lay down her own dramatic program, but it wasn’t enough to overtake Fremont’s 17-year-old Chen. Her elegant short program performed to “On Golden Pond” was followed by a darker, more emotional free skate set to “Jealousy Tango” that made her a surprising first-time national champion.
“I skated such a great short and I was definitely thrilled with it,” Chen said, “so I definitely had some pressure going into the long, thinking I really had a chance at this.”
The bronze medalist two years ago, Chen’s free skate score of 141.40 gave her a 214.22 total, which stood up when Wagner under-rotated a combination and had a final combination spin reduced to a Level 2 in her own program. That left the world silver medalist with a score of 140.84 and a 211.78 composite.
“Karen has deserved the placement she’s gotten so far. That’s awesome for figure skating,” Wagner said. “I think we’re going to be seeing a very strong world team.”
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Mariah Bell earned bronze with a free skate set to music from “East of Eden,” the silver medalist from Skate America overcoming a shaky beginning with a strong finish.
Earlier in the day, Maia and Alex Shibutani weathered a nervous few minutes watching Madison Chock and Evan Bates before winning their second consecutive ice dance gold, while Haven Denney and Brandon Frazier made a triumphant return from injury to win the pairs competition.
“We’re very pleased with the progression that both programs have made over the course of the last several months,” Alex Shibutani said, “but particularly between Grand Prix Final and this competition.”
Defending champion Gracie Gold, whose season has been such a disappointment, continued to struggle in the ladies’ free skate. She had a two-foot landing on a triple loop early in the program, then singled a double axel, and never was able to get back on track.
She almost looked defeated as she skated off the ice, hugging a stuffed animal tightly.
“I’m just not processing any emotions yet,” Gold said. “I’m just choosing not to process any because it’s just, again more, kind of bad feelings — changes I need. Improvements I need.”
Chen followed her record-breaking short program, choreographed by herself, with another dazzling performance to cap the penultimate night of nationals. She landed six triples, her spin positions were sublime, and she even managed to flash a big grin after landing a triple lutz.
When her score was revealed, she buried her face in her hands, almost in disbelief.
“There was definitely a lot of pressure, knowing that I skated the short of my dreams,” she said. “I wanted to follow it up with a close-to-perfect long.”
After giving the leader a curt nod, Wagner proceeded to give her program everything she had. She landed seven triples with the hallmark showmanship that has served her so well on the national stage, and even earned a standing ovation for the performance.
She didn’t earn the score she needed, though. Not quite.
“I know you always you want to come away from this with a win. But my goal from the start of this has been to get through nationals,” Wagner said, “especially coming off a difficult Grand Prix season.”
Chen, no relation to men’s star Nathan Chen, showed potential two years ago when finishing third at the U.S. championships by edging San Jose Olympian Polina Edmunds, who was fourth. But Chen was too young to qualify for the senior World Championships then.
The 4-foot-11 skater became an afterthought the next season because of injuries and skating boot issues. Chen finished eighth at the national championships after trying 14 pairs of boots before the start of the 2015-16 season.
Chen,the first Bay Area woman to win the senior title since Kristi Yamaguchi in 1992 and the first local to win since Rudy Galindo in
1996, began skating at age 4 at Sharks Ice Fremont when Hsiu-Hui Tseng and husband Chih-Hsiu Chen took their daughter to the rink for fun.
The girl mastered triple jumps by age 11 and caught the attention of Yamaguchi, another Fremont skater. Chen has credited Yamaguchi as a mentor who is “always there when I need her.”
In 2013, Chen began training under Tammy Gambill in Riverside. Tseng relocated to Southern California with her two children while Chih-Hsiu Chen has continued working as an engineer in the Bay Area.
Chen’s younger brother, Jeffrey, also is a budding skating star. He finished second with partner Layla Karnes this week in the intermediate dance competition.
Chen’s strong showing at the U.S. championships comes at a time of struggle for Edmunds, 18. The 2014 Olympian hasn’t competed this season because an ongoing foot injury.
But Edmunds, a Santa Clara University freshman, hopes to heal in time to make a run at the 2018 Olympics in Pyeongchang, South Korea. The 2018 Olympic trials are scheduled next January at SAP Center in San Jose.
Staff writer Elliott Almond contributed to this report.
