Page 157 of Oh, Flutz!

NAOMI:Here comes his triple Axel. His has always been close to flawless. Keep an eye on the speed going into it, the height he gets, the distance covered.

[Bryan launches himself into an enormous triple Axel as the music reaches a crescendo, landing it cleanly on beat. Raucous applause from the audience.]

TAYLOR:Didn’t even break a sweat.

MARISSA:We’ll have to see about the rest. Young has quite the bumpy track record in terms of consistency.

NAOMI:Look at the grade of execution on that, though. He’s racked up almost twelve points with that jump alone.

[There’s no time to celebrate, but the camera catches the smile Bryan cracks as he races across the rink, the camera swiveling to follow him through the steps, the spins, the triple combination that lands a tad shaky.]

TAYLOR:And hejusthangs onto the end of that triple Lutz-triple toe combination.

NAOMI:This is where it usually starts going downhill, after the first mistake…

TAYLOR:Is he going to choke?

NAOMI:(quietly) Come on, kid.

[Bryan doesn’t seem too shaken, and continues with the choreography, the sweeping movements, as if he’s one with the music.]

[Bryan throws himself into the movements, utterly lost in the song, in the skating, in the energy he’s spinning. He speeds up, bursting into another jump—and lands it flawlessly, punching the air, making the crowd roar in response.]

NAOMI:I talked to him this morning, he told me he wasn’t skating to win today, but to prove something to himself. He said he doesn’t care if he comes third or thirtieth, but that he wants to be the absolute best he can.

MARISSA:Oh, he’s definitely bringing it today, Naomi.

TAYLOR:I’m looking at the program sheet, coming right up is a triple loop.

TAYLOR:Skating into it—

[Bryan skates backwards across the ice, lining up his arms and legs.)

NAOMI:That’s not a loop entry. He’s going for a Lutz.

MARISSA:He’s going pretty fast into that, isn’t he?

NAOMI:I think he might—

TAYLOR:There’s no way. That’s the second-hardest jump in skating. He’s never done one, not even with Andreyeva, he wouldn’t risk it—

[Bryan flings his leg behind him, propelling his toe pick deep into the ice for a quadruple Lutz, launching up into one, two, three, four revolutions, coming down clean. The audience starts yelling, and the camera tracks the huge grin on Bryan’s face as he races into the choreographic step sequence, moving his arms gracefully as he dives down into a cantilever, squatting on the ice in a glide and stretching his back until it’s parallel to the ice, just as the music rises into the chorus.].

TAYLOR:Getting up out of that, this is his third jumping pass, he’s entering his triple Salchow right now—

NAOMI:Oh my.

TAYLOR:Holy—

MARISSA:That was another quad! He changed it to a quad Salchow!

NAOMI:Wait, is he—

ALL: Oh mygod!

TAYLOR:That’s a quadruple Salchow-triple Axel combination from Bryan Young, totally unplanned!

NAOMI:And pretty much at the end of the program, too, his legs have gotta be about to fall off—

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