SOCHI, Russia - Before taking to the ice to compete in the ladies short program in the team figure skating eventon Saturday night, Ashley Wagner shook out her hands and wore a face of anxiety.
The shaking off seemed to have worked, sort of. Wagner finished her short program with a smile. But when her score of 63.10 was announced, she furrowed her brow as she looked at her coach, Rafael Arutyunyan, both looking disappointed with the judges' interpretation of her performance. The score put Wagner in fourth place in the ladies singles portion of the team event, trailing first place Russian Yulia Lipnitskaya, Carolina Kostner of Italy in second and Mao Asada of Japan, who finished third in spite of falling.
"I know what I'm capable of and what this program is capable of," Wagner said. "I don't agree with the marks, but that's what the individual event is for."
Wagner's effort, combined with a first place finish by Meryl Davis and Charlie White in the ice dancing, was enough to vault the United States from seventh to third in the team competition, a crucial leap because only the top five teams advance to the finals on Sunday night.
A strong competitor on the international stage, Wagner struggled at the United States Figure Skating Championships in Boston last month, where she finished fourth but was controversially selected for the Olympic team over Mirai Nagasu, who finished in third place.
Clad in black and adorned with silver sparkles, Wagner performed Saturday to "Shine on You Crazy Diamond" by Pink Floyd and in recent weeks has said that a buckled down practice schedule has remade her as a skater since her performance at Nationals.
"It was tough going out there after a disappointing Nationals so it was important for me to redeem myself," Wagner said. "I got the triple-triple out there, so I'm pleased. It was a different kind of pressure because it's the team event."
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