Medvedeva, Aaron spring surprises at Skate America

She chose the flamenco song "Fire Dance" for her short program, hoping to outgrow her old self by skating to a piece of music more passionate than any she has chosen before. "We need to go out and skate two good programs and we know that, especially at nationals if we want to get to worlds...There's plenty to practice".

Reigning United States champions Alexa Scimeca and Chris Knierim, who were surprise leaders after the short programme, settled for second with 191.97 points after fading to fourth in the free skate with 122.28.

Wenjing Sui and Cong Han, who held second place behind Scimeca and Knierim following the short program, turned in an October 24 skate that secured (202.00) the gold for China. 43 in the overall standings despite finishing third behind the Russian duo in the free programme.

"I am not satisfied with my performance but I am happy that I was able to make the podium", she said.

The 15-year-old Medvedeva had a fall on a double Axel combination, but she rallied, adding double toe loops to the end of two jump elements. Additional live and on demand Skate America coverage is available online via subscription to IceNetwork.com.

Gold doubled an intended triple salchow late, but that was the only blemish in an otherwise brilliant performance by the 20-year-old.

"You have to start somewhere, and I'm really proud that I went for it fully", Brown said. Each athlete is eligible to score points in up to two of the six scheduled events. "You have to be thinking a step ahead".

"I've just been working a lot on the timing of the three turns, trying to get an inside edge, and I lost a bit of my attention", said Gold, whose 65.39 points gave her just a slim advantage over Miyahara (65.12.). Obviously, with my coaches, we are discussing what to do in case something doesn't work. "I was pleased with how we made the necessary adjustments with the event in a smaller rink and it worked out really well".

USA ice dance champions and Olympians Madison Chock and Evan Bates arrived in Milwaukee with a brand new short dance to "More" by Andrea Bocelli and "Unchained Melody" by II Divo. But for us it was one of the very first times we have not had to come from behind in the short.

Scimeca and Knierim were engaged in April 2014 and plan to Wednesday in June 2016. "It was kind of a learning experience to skate last in the long because we really haven't done that yet".

Satoko Miyahara of Japan took the bronze with 188.07 and Americans Karen Chen and Mariah Bell finished fifth and eighth, respectively. Russia's Victoria Sinitsina and Nikita Katsalapov were second at 62.76, and Canada's Piper Gilles and Paul Poirier followed at 61.33.