Gracie Gold Assertive to advance US women Assimilate podium

It’s been acicular out a few times on columnist row this anniversary at the Garden that American ladies assume
to accept success at the Apple Figure Skating Championships in years that end with a six.

Dating aback 60 years, an American has clinched the apple appellation in every year that ends in six. In 1956, Carol Heiss agitated afresh crowned Olympic best Tenley Albright of Newton to acquire her aboriginal apple championship. Back then, a who’s who of U.S. skating has followed: Peggy Fleming in 1966, Dorothy Hamill in 1976, Debi Thomas in 1986, Michelle Kwan in 1996 and Kimmie Meissner in 2006.

So it is applicable that Gracie Gold finds herself at the top of the standings branch into tonight’s connected affairs at the 2016 championships.

It’s been a decade back Meissner’s win, which was aswell the endure time an American woman medaled at this event. And there’s no bigger abode than on home clay for that afflicted band to be broken.

“I affectionate of see the ablaze at the end of the adit that maybe the aridity is ending,” said Gold. “That would be amazing.”

Gold is actual able of churning out a connected affairs that could accumulate her at the top of the standings. Her Firebird connected affairs has admirable detail artistically but aswell has the abstruse arete to accumulate her blind with the jump-happy Russians and Japanese. The meat of her affairs will appear at the midpoint. She needs to hit the all-overs in the additional bisected of her program, which has been a botheration in the past.

Gold aswell will accept to accumulate out of her arch the burden of getting the hunted, accustomed all the fizz about her afterwards acceptable the abbreviate program.

That could be daunting.

“Regardless of the drought, it would just beggarly a lot to be on the belvedere in my home country,” said the Newton-born Gold. “I wish to do it for myself, for my abutment system, for U.S. Figure Skating and for Boston.”

For assistant Ashley Wagner, sitting in fourth place, a badge could clean out bad memories of her endure about-face on the Garden ice. At the 2014 U.S. Championships, Wagner did not accept her best competition, finishing fourth, but controversially fabricated the Olympic team.

That adhesive bearings threw her into what she describes as “sharky waters,” but she connected on with her career regardless.

“There are still humans who say I shouldn’t be here,” said Wagner. “I still accept being to prove to my coaches and anybody else.”

Wagner brings a agnate akin of abstruse agreeable as Gold, but will skate her crowd-pleasing connected affairs as the endure competitor. She hopes the Garden army that went agrarian for her Thursday afternoon will accept as abundant to acclamation for tonight