SPOKANE, Wash. (AP) Gracie Gold bounced back from a bitter disappointment at the World Championships last month to help North America win the inaugural Team Challenge Cup on Saturday night.
After dropping from first to fourth following her free skate in Boston last month, Gold scored 142 points, five points superior to her last skate, as North America held off Asia and Europe in the three continent competition.
Grace's performance jump-started an outstanding night for American skaters with Adam Rippon and Jason Brown producing strong results before Ashley Wagner capped the night with a performance even better than she had in the worlds when her free skated vaulted her from fourth to a silver medal.
North American finished with 892.42 points. Europe had 848.51 and Asia 820.18.
North America entered the singles free skate with a sizable lead because of Canadians dominating pairs and ice dance earlier in the day.
The top scores in the free skate went to Shoma Uno of Asia (192.92) and Europe's precocvious World Champion Evgenia Medvedeva (151.95), both of whom received standing ovations from all the competitors.
Two-time reigning world champions Meagan Dunhamel and Eric Radford dominated the pairs skating. The five-time Canadian champions had a little bobble when Dunhamel didn't land cleanly on a triple lutz but otherwise they lived up to expectations with a score of 147.48.
Combined with the Canadian ice dancing duo of Kaitlyn Weaver and Andrew Poje, North America had 259.04 points in the afternoon session. Europe was second with 239.47 and Asia with 210.96.
The Houston-born Weaver and Poje, who won the silver medal in the 2014 World Championships, had 111.56 points - their best by just over one point. They edged their American teammates Madison Chock and Evan Bates by .26.
The teams had two entries in pairs and dancing but only the top score in each count toward the team title.
