Rachael Flatt almost made it perfect

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Rachael Flatt, the 16-year-old from Del Mar* and the only other American woman to have qualified for the world championships, stumbled out of her first triple flip and doomed her chances of completing her triple flip-triple toe combination but she improvised on her next jump, a triple lutz, by adding a double jump.

She got credit for a jump combination and received a season’s best score of 59.30 on her short program. She is in second place with eight skaters to go.

-- Diane Pucin

* An earlier version of this post said Flatt is from La Jolla instead of Del Mar.