Wagner wins 1st title in night of flawed skating

Ashley Wagner picked the perfect time for the performance of her career.

Wagner won her first title at the U.S. Figure Skating Championships on Saturday, salvaging what was an otherwise dismal night of splats and spills with a majestic rendition of "Black Swan." She finished with a score of 187.02 points and then watched as two-time champion Alissa Czisny and Agnes Zawadzki melted down.

When the final results were posted, tears filled Wagner's eyes and she rested a hand on the shoulder of coach John Nicks. It was further affirmation that Wagner had made the right choice last summer, when she left her family on the East Coast and moved to California to train with Nicks, best known as Sasha Cohen's coach. The change rejuvenated the two-time bronze medalist, who came into these nationals feeling it was her time to be a champion.

"I was really nervous going out there because I felt like it was getting to the point where I wanted it so bad," Wagner said. "Then I remembered that I've made all these changes for a reason. I've learned so much in my time in California and I needed to use that new training. Mr. Nicks has done a great of helping me refocus."

Wagner beamed as she stood on the podium, her smile as bright as the gold medal around her neck.

"I'm in shock," she said. "It hasn't hit me yet."

Czisny finished second and Zawadzki wound up third.

The U.S. has been looking for someone _ anyone _ with the starpower and skill to carry the Americans like Michelle Kwan did for almost a decade. The Americans have gone five years without a medal at the world championships, and they came home empty-handed from the Vancouver Olympics. For the fourth straight year, they'll have only two spots at the world championships.

It's a drought the likes of which the Americans have never seen, and the shortcomings were made all the more glaring this week by Kwan's return to nationals to be inducted into the Hall of Fame.

Wagner has freely admitted she wants to be the new face of U.S. skating, and she went out and backed it up, beating not one, not two, but three former U.S. champions.

"I'm happy I did or I else I would have looked like an awful person," Wagner said. "This is a learning experience, I take something away from every competition I'm in and learn. If I skate with confidence, the results will come."

Her next challenge will be at the world championships in March. Wagner and Czisny will need to finish with a combined placement of 13 to earn the Americans to spots at next year's all-important world championships, the qualifier for the 2014 Olympics in Sochi.