Two Top Skaters Out of U.S. Nationals

Polina Edmunds’ expected withdrawal is accompanied by the shocking withdrawal of reigning men’s champion Adam Rippon.

Since last week fans have awaited for the now seemingly inevitable withdrawal of Polina Edmunds from U.S. Nationals. Today, five days before the competition is scheduled to begin, it finally came. Except when U.S Figure Skating made the announcement, it turned out her withdrawal wasn’t the only one. Fans are now heartbroken, because we have lost much-loved reigning men’s champion Adam Rippon.

Polina Edmunds Makes it Official

After making the World Championships last year, having to pull out a week beforehand due to a bone bruise, and being unable to recover for it, Edmunds finally formally withdrew from Nationals. After U.S. Figure Skating had made the announcement, she also followed up her first Instagram post with an even sadder photo, though her message was slightly more optimistic:

It’s a vague statement for her future. Missing the season is a huge setback, and will make it much harder for her to make next year’s Olympics. But that would never have needed to be the end of career anyway. She’s still only 18. That’s young enough to stick around until 2022, if she wants to.

Meanwhile, at least one spot on the World team, and arguably even two, are now wide open. Now the only lady who will make it barring a shocking result is Ashley Wagner. Even if Gracie Gold pulls herself together, in which case she will certainly go too, there are multiple ladies who could all easily win the bronze. This was all pretty much true already, but Edmunds still would’ve been something of a favorite for the last spot. Now there really isn’t a favorite for it at all. Whoever does go with Wagner will also face immense pressure to skate well enough to help her preserve the third American ladies berth for the Olympic season.

Edmunds, watching at home, will no doubt really hope they get it. She may need it to exist to have any chance of returning to the Olympics next year.

Adam Rippon Out With a Fractured Foot

Adam Rippon, too, followed the official announcement with one on social media. He went into a good amount of detail about exactly what happened. It seems to have just been a very unfortunate freak accident:

One hopes that when he gets those follow up images in four weeks, he won’t need surgery. Even if he does, theoretically he has plenty of time to recover even from that before next fall. But as Polina Edmunds would tell him, injuries can sometimes keep a skater out for much longer than anyone would predict.

It’s very possible that if he had competed, he wouldn’t have made Worlds anyway. There are only two berths for the men. Both Nathan Chen and Jason Brown could’ve easily beaten him, and they’re not the only men who could’ve. Now that he’s gone, and thanks to how long he’s going to be off ice there’s no chance of his petitioning to be sent to Worlds anyway, those two are solid favorites for the top two and the World team. It’s far from certain, though; they too are beatable enough if they make any mistakes. For Rippon, not even getting the chance to qualify may hurt, but not as much as getting it and failing would have.

Next: Ladies of South Korea Show Their Growing Strength at Nationals

Meanwhile, it’s very possible, although not very easy, for Chen and Brown to regain that third spot. Should Rippon come back strong next year, he’ll be favored enough to grab that. If he does it with the much-loved long program he’s only gotten to skate three times this season, it’ll be even sweeter.