Page 156 of Oh, Flutz!

I smile, reaching for him. “No matter what happens, I’m proud of us. Really, really proud.”

He smiles back, and all I see is sunlight. He takes my hand, squeezing it. “I’m proud of us, too.”

“The scores for Sofia Magomedova and Aleksander Sorokin.”

We tighten our grip on each other’s hands, take a deep breath—

CSN SPORTS LIVE COVERAGE: MEN’S FREE SKATE

U.S. NATIONALS—LAKE PLACID, NEW YORK

ONE YEAR LATER

TAYLOR DAVIS:We are back from our commercial break, and ready for the last two skaters of this event, Bryan Young and Lucas Choi. This is what we’ve all been waiting for. Who do we think is going home with the title of men’s national champion?

MARISSA CAPE:I think it’s not as obvious going into it as it is most years. Luke Choi and Bryan Young are practically neck-and-neck after the short, despite everyone wondering whether Bryan would be able to pull off his first skate since his injury. We’ve had some more surprises already earlier—Jordan Hesse had to pull out due to that shocking warmup collision, not to mention reigning Junior World Champion Gordon Brewer’s frankly disastrous short program.

TAYLOR:Oh, man, that was hard to watch. Really…yikes.

NAOMI ANDERSEN:Could just be nerves. It is his senior debut.

TAYLOR:Hate to say that I called it.

MARISSA:He has time. For now, it’s Young and Choi’s moment.

NAOMI:Here we go.

ANNOUNCER: Our next skater—representing the Placid Valley Figure Skating Club, please welcome, Bryan Young!

[Cheering and applause—camera pans to audience.]

NAOMI:Up next is Lake Placid’s very own Bryan Young, and you can see that everyone here is already excited. This is his home rink, he learned to skate on this ice when he was six years old, and has been training here ever since.

TAYLOR:He’s the prodigal son, is what he is. This guy has had, and I’m not kidding, the craziest career I’ve ever seen. Back in his junior days, he was so good everyone thought he’d for sure take over, but then all that went out the window.

MARISSA:You’re right about that. For the next few years he was a total mess, the poor thing. But then Ekaterina Andreyeva got herself booted off the Russian national team, and they were apparently a match made in heaven, despite the, well,oddcircumstances. I still don’t know how they pulled off what they did last season.

TAYLOR:Me either, Marissa. It was something, alright.

NAOMI:Well, no matter the circumstances, those two picked themselves up off the ground and beat all the odds, not to mention everybody’s expectations, to secure an Olympic gold medal in just one year of skating together. They decided to take a break from pairs and return to singles this season, but Bryan suffered another torn ligament over the summer, so like we mentioned earlier, this is actually his first solo performance in two years. I think it’s so special that he gets to make his comeback here at home, guys.

MARISSA:And his short program was fantastic. Everyone was on their feet and having a great time.

TAYLOR:Well, the free skate is what really counts. Him and Choi might be close for now, but Choi’s got three quads, and Bryan hasn’t landed any in practice this week. Add in the pressure of skating in front of your hometown…let’s see whether he can pull it off tonight.

[Camera moves as Bryan shuffles his blades and wrings his hands out before stopping at center ice. Zoom in. He glances up to the crowd before visibly taking a deep breath and closing his eyes.]

[Music starts— “The Scientist” by Coldplay.]

MARISSA:Interesting music choice. Let’s see if he can make it his own.

[Introductory step sequence, building speed. Music builds.]

NAOMI:Okay, here he’s going to go for his opening jump, a quad toe loop. He just fell on this in warmup…

[Bryan glances over his shoulder, nearing the corner of the ice, doing a series of turns to make a more difficult entry as he skates backwards and uses his toe pick to propel himself high into the air, clearing over a foot and a half, arms held high over his head.]

MARISSA:Would you look at that.

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