WICHITA, Kan. (AP) — Ellie Kam and Danny O'Shea made a fairly emphatic statement on Thursday night that they belong on the American team for next year's Winter Olympics, putting together a near-flawless short program at the U.S.
Figure Skating Championships. The defending national champions scored 77.19 points for their skate, set to “Rain, in Your Black Eyes” by the Italian composer Ezio Bosso.
It was more than four points better than their best in international competition, and it put Kam and O'Shea more than eight points ahead of second-place Emily Chan and Spencer Howe heading into Saturday night's free skate. “Very proud to go out there and put together a strong performance like we train at home,” O'Shea said. “Lot of pressure coming back after we won last year and I was pretty happy with how we handled that as a team today.
” The women's short program was later Thursday night with Amber Glenn returning as the defending champion. This year’s nationals, which comes just over a year before the Milano-Cortina Games, should help identify the front-runners for the team that the U.S.
will send to Italy. It also should go a long way toward deciding the U.S.
team for the world championships, which are returning to American soil for the first time in nine years this March in Boston. Kam and O'Shea, who were fifth at the Grand Prix Final last month, opened with a clean triple twist before landing their side-by-side triple salchow. But it was their throw triple loop .