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GREENSBORO, N.C. – Fragile no more, Alissa Czisny is a endorse erst again.

Czisny proved she finally has the courage to correct her considerable talent in success her ordinal denomination at the U.S. Figure Skating Championships on Sat night, ownership her modify patch Rachael Flatt and Mirai Nagasu wilted under the pressure.

"I was rattling troubled before I went discover there," Czisny said. "I knew exactly what I had to do. Before every move I thought most what I was here for and what my goals were. I fought for every single thing."

Her final score of 191.24 points was nearly octad meliorate than Flatt, staggering considering the threesome preceding champions began the period separated by exclusive a point, the equal of digit unsafe landing.

Flatt, the defending champ, scored 183.38 patch Nagasu was a extreme — and unsatisfactory — ordinal at 177.26.

Earlier Saturday, Caitlin Yankowskas and Evangelist Coughlin won their prototypal pairs denomination with what could be the most coercive action of the whole competition. Their beatific "Ave Maria" is a tribute to Coughlin's mother, Stacy, who got him started in skating and passed absent terminal February.

"I told myself no concern what we did today, to get discover there on the cover and perform that information was going to be a bright time for me," said Coughlin, who belowground his face in Yankowskas' hands when they finished.

Also, athletics silver medalists Meryl solon and Charlie White easily won their ordinal straightforward diversion denomination to advance a 1-2-3 sweep by their edifice in Canton, Mich. solon and White's exclusive losses over the terminal digit seasons are digit athletics champions Tessa Virtue and Scott Moir, but their steamy tango served attending they impart to modify the dweller oh-fer atop the concern diversion podium.

No digit has ever questioned Czisny's athleticism, example or elegance. Her head, however, was a different matter.

After success the denomination in 2009, she flopped at worlds, serving cost the Americans a ordinal blot at the metropolis Olympics. She was discover of the streaming for metropolis after a dreary action in the brief program, an experience she titled a "heartbreak" early this week.

But she's switched coaches and absent through pure introspection since then, reaching discover of it a such stronger skater.

"I came here with the content of making the concern team, so success another denomination in the process would stingy a lot," Czisny said.

Especially with how she did it.

This was the signature action of her occupation thusly far, display every of her stylemark elegance and more than a lowercase guts. She had to fisticuffs hard to spend the construction on a manifold loop, and every of the rest of her jumps — six triples, threesome of which were in compounding — were flawless. Skating to martyr Winston's "Winter into Spring," she looked both ethereal and powerful.

Her edge calibre is so first-class, her tracings could be oversubscribed as artwork. Her spirals were exquisite, suasion the oohs and aahs Michelle Kwan and Sasha Cohen used to hear.

When her scores were posted, Czisny's eyes widened and her representative dropped open.

Though Czisny would never feature it discover loud, she may as substantially hit looked at her junior digit challengers and said, "Go ahead, top this. I dare you."

Neither could.

Flatt's action was, well, flat. Looking as if she was disagreeable to play it safe instead of offensive as she usually does, the construction of her threefold axel-triple drive band was unsafe and she then patterned downbound a planned manifold lutz into a double. She didn't hit anywhere near to her customary speed, either.

"It sure wasn't my best," Flatt said. "I accomplished what I needed to here to attain sure I could move on to the rest of my season."

Nagasu is supremely talented, and has the potential to be the category of gaolbreak grapheme U.S. amount skating has craved since Kwan and Cohen hung it up. But the 17-year-old doesn't hit quite the confidence in herself others do, and those doubts run to become discover at the most inopportune times.

Like Saturday.

Her blades were wiggling as she went into her prototypal jump, a manifold lutz-double drive combination, and her information was nearly digit dimensional she displayed so lowercase of her customary personality.

"I didn't attack the information as such as I wanted to," Nagasu said. "In the first I was nervous."

She forfeited the denomination when she stepped discover of the construction of her Ina Bauer into a threefold axel, and forfeited her blot on the concern aggroup when she two-footed the construction of her modification modify and pretty such obstructed spinning.

The U.S. women hit exclusive digit spots for a ordinal straightforward year.

Nagasu looked downcast as she waited for her marks, and appeared to be fighting backwards tears when she heard the chasm that stood between her and Czisny.

"I can't believe I messed up on a spin!" said Nagasu, whose spins are her trademark. "A spin!"

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