US snubs runner-up for Olympic Games

LOS ANGELES - Agence France-Presse

Ross Miner was denied a men’s berth at next month’s Winter Olympics by a U.S. Figure Skating selection committee Jan. 7, hours after his runner-up effort at the U.S. championships.

Teen star Nathan Chen, who landed five quadruple jumps to defend his U.S. crown Jan. 6 at San Jose and remain unbeaten this season, heads the American team for Pyeongchang, which also includes third-placed teen Vincent Zhou, like Chen the son of Chinese immigrants, and fourth-place Adam Rippon, the 2016 U.S. champion. Miner rose from fifth after the short program with a strong free skate Jan. 6 to finish second. But it wasn’t enough to convince the selection committee he deserved a spot in South Korea over Zhou or Rippon.

It was the second selection controversy in as many days at the U.S. championships, with former world silver medalist Ashley Wagner left off the team after a fourth-place finish.

Selectors on Jan. 6 stuck with the women’s podium finish to decide spots in sending Bradie Tennell, Mirai Nagasu and Karen Chen to Pyeongchang.

Wagner was named as an alternate but Miner was tabbed only as a second alternate behind Jason Brown.

Chen, 18, has won two Grand Prix Series titles and the Grand Prix Final this season and is the only man in the world to be credited with landing five different types of quadruple jumps in global competition.

Zhou, who was skating in his hometown, was last year’s U.S. runner-up and the 2017 world junior champion. Rippon finished second at two Grand Prix events this season and was fifth in the Grand Prix Final.