Olympian Polina Edmunds is out of the U.S. Figure Skating Championships next week due to a bone bruise in her right foot that has kept her out of competition for nearly one year.
Edmunds, the youngest U.S. competitor across all sports at the Sochi Olympics at age 15, is not expected to compete again until next season.
“We want to make sure all the red flags [with my foot] are gone for next season,” Edmunds said last month. “It’s really important for next season because it’s an Olympic season. Everything that we’re doing is fully focused on the 2018 season.”
Her absence from nationals will certainly be felt.
Edmunds finished second, fourth and second the last three years, making the Olympic or world championships teams each time. She placed ninth in Sochi and eighth at the 2014 and 2015 Worlds and skipped the 2016 Worlds due to the bone bruise.
Three U.S. women will be named to this year’s world championships team after nationals, likely the top three finishers in Kansas City next week.
The two most recent U.S. champions, Ashley Wagner and Gracie Gold, are favorites, though Gold had a disastrous autumn and Wagner struggled in her last competition.
Also in the mix is 2010 Olympian Mirai Nagasu, the only other skater in the field with Olympic or world championships experience. Mariah Bell, who finished second to Wagner at Skate America in October, is also a contender.