Mariah Bell's Free Skate Is a Fall-Free, Pleasure-Crammed Efficiency

Mariah Bell had a large smile earlier than her skate, an indication that she was truly having fun with herself. And after her soulful routine to “Hallelujah,” she has much more cause to smile.

The 25-year-old Bell, the oldest American Olympian within the singles competitors since 1928, obtained by means of her routine with out falling, and the enjoyment not often left her face.

She regarded thrilled along with her efficiency, lifting her arms into the air and grinning ear to ear as she left the ice. Within the “kiss and cry,” she fashioned a coronary heart along with her fingers simply earlier than she realized her rating: 136.92, the very best mark of the day and adequate for first place with a mixed rating of 202.30.