For Ashley Wagner, making Grand Prix Final would mark big step toward Olympics

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For Ashley Wagner, making Grand Prix Final would mark big step toward Olympics

There is an appropriate literary allusion for the position Ashley Wagner is in at Skate America this weekend.

This final event of the “regular season” in the Grand Prix figure skating series is taking place Friday through Sunday in Lake Placid, N.Y., near the heart of James Fenimore Cooper country.

And Wagner is, in effect, the last of the Mohicans, the only U.S. woman with a chance to be in the six-skater field for next month’s Grand Prix Final in Nagoya, Japan.

After having made three straight appearances in the Final, two resulting in bronze medals, Wagner did not qualify last season.  Getting back there would take on extra significance in this Olympic season.

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While waiting for Hanyu and Chen in Grand Prix opener, a look at stumbles, struggles and success

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While waiting for Hanyu and Chen in Grand Prix opener, a look at stumbles, struggles and success

After a hectic first month of the Olympic figure skating season, there finally is a weekend to catch our collective breath, with just two low-level international events before the senior Grand Prix series begins with a bang:  Yuzuru Hanyu of Japan and Nathan Chen of the United States at the Rostelecom Cup Oct. 20-22 in Moscow.

Chen established himself among the world's top skaters when he topped Hanyu in the free skate at last season's Grand Prix Final (Hanyu won the event for a record fourth straight time) and then beat Hanyu  for the Four Continents Championship title on the 2018 Olympic rink in South Korea.  Hanyu had the last (and definitive) word at the World Championships, rebounding from a subpar short program with a brilliant free skate to win worlds for the second time, while Chen stumbled to sixth overall.

The six Challenger Series events so far this season (and last weekend’s free-skate-only Japan Open) have produced some noteworthy performances, good and bad.

Ten random observations:

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