And it may be said that those who fail to learn from history can be condemned to repeat it, but this was a case where Karen Chen’s redo came with as much to celebrate for U.S. figure skating as the original event at the 2017 World Championships in Helsinki.
This time, the historical record will show an even more unlikely path to the same outcome, which was having Chen’s free skate at the World Championships be the key to getting a third women’s singles spot for her country at the upcoming Olympics after a more decorated teammate had faltered.
You want more uncanny coincidence? Both took place in Nordic countries, first Finland, now Sweden.
And just as in 2017, Chen fought through mistakes on jumping passes late in her four-minute free program to come up with a good enough performance to succeed despite the pressure of a situation that, once again, she could not avoid being aware of.
Chen’s pleasantly surprising fourth place Friday at the World Championships in Stockholm, combined with Bradie Tennell’s disappointing ninth, added up to exactly the number, 13, that their finishes could not exceed for the U.S. to regain the third women’s spot they had lost in 2018.
They cut it very close to land on 13. The difference between Chen and fifth-place finisher Loena Hendrickx of Belgium was just .00009 percent of their total scores, each a personal best: 208.63 for Chen and 208.44 for Hendrickx.
And, yes, fourth was the same place Chen finished in 2017, when the U.S. women had more breathing room because faltering rivals allowed Ashley Wagner to move up to seventh.
In a sport where the mantra is to focus only on yourself, Chen admitted in 2017 that seeing the standings before her free skate warmup had distracted her.
Fast-forward four years: she peeked again and saw that Tennell, who had skated in the previous group, stood lower than expected.
“I tried just to not look at anything, but before I got on the ice for my warmup I did happen to see what the placements looked like,” Chen said. “I felt myself tense up.
“I kind of gave myself a little pep talk and said, `Karen, it doesn’t matter. It’s just a distraction, but at the end of the day, you’re here to do your absolute best, and everything else is completely out of your control.’”
Chen, 21, said that during her first trip to the mixed zone after the free skate to speak with media (via Zoom). At that point, with Chen second and three skaters to go, all who began seven points or more ahead of her after the short program, it seemed the two U.S. finishes would total 14.
“It’s not finalized yet,” Chen said with a laugh, “but most likely it will just be two spots for us. Competing at worlds again [for the first time] since 2017 and being able to deliver two solid performances (both personal best scores) is a big win in my book.”
Thirty minutes later, after Rika Kihira of Japan stumbled repeatedly in her free skate and tumbled from second to seventh overall, Chen was back in the mixed zone to discuss the unforeseen reversal of fortune.
“I was in shock, for sure, because the situation wasn’t looking that great,” Chen said. “And really happy.”
“This season has been really different than any other season for me, where it was constantly good and bad, good and bad, good and bad,” Chen said. “This is the first season where I felt I kept building.”