Wagner surprises with silver medal finish

American skater Ashley Wagner made a huge statement Saturday at the Rostelecom Cup: she's still in the game.

Wagner, the 2008 U.S. bronze medalist and fourth place finisher from last year dazzled in her free skate at the second Grand Prix event of the season, electrifying the crowd and coming from behind to defeat 2008 World champion Mao Asada and reigning U.S. champion Alissa Czisny.

Her free skate, set to music from Borodulin's "Prince Igor," contained superb spins, solid spirals and an arsenal of strong jumps. Wagner landed three double Axels in her program, and was credited with four clean triple jumps (although her triple Lutz was assigned a wrong-edge deduction and received a Grade of Execution of -2). Despite all this, she earned a personal best 108.81 points for her program, and rebounded from a fifth place short program to take second overall. Japanese skater and 2007 World champion Miki Ando won the event, while her countrywoman Asada continued her downward slide and only managed a fifth place finish overall. Her chances of making the Grand Prix Final in Tokyo in December are now very much in jeopardy.

While Wagner shone, Czisny fizzled in a disappointing free skate in which she was only credited with three clean triple jumps and fell on a downgraded triple flip. She dropped from second to fourth place overall.

The U.S. ladies field is so wildly unpredictable right now with, realistically, six ladies fighting for only two Olympic berths. Though Rachael Flatt and Mirai Nagasu have yet to compete this season (they will be at this week's Cup of China), Wagner has set the early standard. Her total score of 163.97 from Moscow is the fifth-highest ladies score of the season, though skaters like Flatt and Nagasu could certainly match and surpass it. With the Olympic team being chosen on the results of many competitions throughout the year, there's more pressure than ever on the U.S. ladies to be near flawless at each outing.