For Wagner, An Unexpected Coming of Age

ST. PAUL, Minn., Jan. 27 -- In less than a week, Alexandria's Ashley Wagner, 16, went from a curious rising star with an uncertain upside to the undisputed leader of a senior women's world championship team that will face major pressure at the March championships in Gothenberg, Sweden.

Wagner, a junior at West Potomac High, won the bronze medal in Saturday's deciding long program in the women's competition at the U.S. Figure Skating Championships. Her finish -- in ordinary circumstances -- would have meant she earned the last of three world championship invitations and would be the youngster tagging along with a couple of more veteran skaters to Gothenberg.

But this was no ordinary year. The women -- er, girls -- who finished in first and second place, Mirai Nagasu, 14, and Rachael Flatt, 15, did not meet the age requirement to attend the senior championships. Neither did fourth-place finisher Caroline Zhang, 14. Such an extraordinary scenario had never before arisen.

The U.S. Figure Skating Association's international committee had to do some scrambling late Saturday to determine who would accompany Wagner to the prestigious March 18-23 event.

More than an hour after the competition's conclusion, USFSA President Ron Hershberger announced that 2006 world champion Kimmie Meissner, 18, who has struggled in recent months and finished seventh Saturday, and fifth-place finisher Beatrisa Liang, would join Wagner in Sweden. Nagasu, Flack and Zhang, he said, would attend the world junior championships in Bulgaria.

"We think that's the best team we can have for this year, so we go forward," Hershberger said.

The odd distribution of talent puts the pressure on Wagner, Meissner and Liang to exceed expectations in Gothenberg. The stakes are not insignificant.

If the top two U.S. performers at the world championships exceed a combined 13th place (which would occur if, for example, the top two finishes were fifth and ninth), the United States would lose a spot for the 2008 world championships and only two skaters would be eligible to go.

Meissner finished fourth at last year's championships and has been trying to avoid a downward spiral ever since. She and Emily Hughes, who was injured and did not compete here, barely preserved three spots for the upcoming worlds (Hughes finished ninth in 2007). Alissa Czisny, who also competed at the 2007 championships, finished 15th.

Meissner vowed through tears Saturday to get her mind -- and triple flips and triple loops -- back in working order. She fell three times apiece in the two most recent performances of her free skate.

"She'll work diligently to make herself ready," Hershberger said. "She's a tough competitor. I expect she will correct whatever the problem is and perform well."

Despite the increased pressure, Wagner, who trains under Shirley Hughes at Mount Vernon Ice Arena, said she saw merit in the age-limit rule, which requires that skaters turn 15 by July 1, 2007, to attend these senior world championships.

"On one hand, they are all amazing skaters and so talented that I know they would be perfectly fine there," Wagner said. "On the other hand, senior worlds is a lot of pressure, a lot of things I don't think younger age groups should be subjected to. . . . In a way [the International Skating Union rule] is a good thing."

The rule prevented Japan's Mao Asada from competing at the 2006 Winter Games at a time she was considered the best skater in the world.

"I don't think it's a bad rule," Hughes said. "You want that body to mature and get stronger. You don't want to damage it. You don't want to ask too much too early."