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Americans fall early and often as 2018 Winter Olympics women's figure skating begins

Bradie Tennell and Mirai Nagasu both went down just moments into their short programs
Bradie Tennell of the United States falls while competing during the Ladies Single Skating Short Program on day twelve of the PyeongChang 2018 Winter Olympic Games at Gangneung Ice Arena on February 21, 2018 in Gangneung, South Korea.

America's hopes of even contending for a women's figure skating medal ended early Wednesday amid a flurry of falls and mistakes.

The top two entries -- national champ Bradie Tennell and 2010 Olympian Mirai Nagasu -- both went down just moments into their short programs at the Pyeongchang Games. And 18-year-old Karen Chen needed to put her hand on the ice to keep from falling.

Nagasu, fourth in Vancouver, fell on her triple axel and earned a score of 66.93 for ninth place. Last week, she became the first American woman to complete a triple axel in Olympic history when she did it during the team competition. She is a little less than 12 points out of third.

"I think I overshot it," Nagasu told NBC of her fall. "That would an 'L' for today, but it was a fight. You win some and lose some. Today it wasn't my day, but I delivered when it counted for the team."

Mirai Nagasu of the United States falls while competing during the Ladies Single Skating Short Program on day twelve of the PyeongChang 2018 Winter Olympic Games at Gangneung Ice Arena on February 21, 2018 in Gangneung, South Korea.

Nagasu earned a bronze in the team last week, after turning in one of the top individual women's performances of that competition.

Tennell, new to the Olympics, was the first skater of the day, not an enviable position. Falling has been rare in her young career, but never have the stakes been this high. She scored 64.01 points and is 11th.

Karen Chen's mistake came even closer to the start than the others. She scored 65.90 for 10th place. Fittingly, the three Americans are grouped together.

As expected, Russians led the day. Alina Zagitova, 15, is first with 82.92 followed by 18-year-old Evegenia Medvedeva with 81.61.

The long program is Friday.

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