Her skates are chunks of steel as long as 13 feet (the crew changes skate length according to ice conditions), with an almost imperceptible curve along the bottom and a razor-sharp edge so that the skate bites hard into the ice.
Better yet, she'd redeemed herself from those dismal performances at the Vancouver Olympics and 2009 world championships, where she spent more time sprawling on the ice than a kid learning how to skate.
If the rear skate loses its purchase on the ice, the crew finds itself sitting at the end of what suddenly has become a 30- or 40-foot-long pendular arm.