Ashley Wagner confident after move, coaching change

• Wagner moved training base from Delaware to California
• She's now coached by John Nicks
• Reigning U.S. champion has improved technique, confidence

In the Kiss and Cry area, the ageless coach, nattily attired in an ascot, waits and watches. There may be tension elsewhere, but for John Nicks, who has seen it all in figure skating, there is simply a smile.

Ashley Wagner, his latest Olympic hopeful, has just finished her free skate at the recent Trophee Bompard in Paris. The program, which includes six triple jumps, was nearly flawless. Still, Wagner hesitates before celebrating ... until the 83-year-old Nicks grabs her arm and throws it into the air like a heavyweight champion who just knocked her sequined opponent out cold.

Wagner's mother, Melissa, laughs as she recalls the familiar scene. "I see her face as he throws her arm in the air and I know she's thinking, 'Should you be doing this? What if...?' In his mind, he's been at it so long — he knows a good performance when he sees it.

"Ashley isn't that demonstrative," Melissa says. "She had so many fourth and third places earlier in her career, she's not one to think she's the one to win. Everything is so genuine. She's surprised."

As consistent performances become routine, winning might become less of a surprise for Wagner, who enters this weekend's Grand Prix final as a medal favorite. After winning at Trophee Bompard and Skate America, Wagner became the first U.S. woman to win multiple Grand Prix titles in a season since Sasha Cohen did the same in 2003.

Wagner, 21, once described herself as the "almost girl" but after a coaching change and a move to Southern California, she has reduced that label into ice shavings. She won her first national title in January and then won a gold medal at the Four Continents Championships, defeating Olympic silver medalist Mao Asada.

In 2010, Wagner missed out on a trip to the Vancouver Olympics by 4.08 points – almost the same margin she was penalized for a fall on a triple Lutz in her short program.

"It so hard to put in to words how devastating it was," Wagner says about Vancouver. "I was really bitter for a while. I actually had the best international season of all the ladies so I was hoping I would qualify myself for worlds, but they didn't assign me to worlds. They assigned me to junior worlds, which was a bit of a slap in the face so I ended up declining that.

"It took me a while to accept that everything happens for a reason. It wasn't my time and if I had gone to Vancouver I may not have been as competitive as I wanted to be. My dream is to go to the Olympics, yes, but I don't just want to just show up. I want to go to win. I think now I'm setting myself up so that could be a realistic opportunity."

The Grand Prix Final this weekend is in Sochi, Russia, where the 2014 Winter Games, will be held. "To get a chance to get comfortable before the craziness of the Olympics, a chance to get my bearings, I'm excited about that," Wagner says. "I'll definitely try to picture myself there."

Though confident, Wagner stops short of even thinking she's an Olympic lock. Given past history, there's no way she's throwing that arm in the air in triumph just yet. "There's a long road ahead of me," she says. Though nationals in January and worlds in March are important steps, qualifying for an Olympic spot is a year away.

Still, Wagner hopes she can end the USA's recent struggles on the world stage. An American woman hasn't won a world or Olympic medal since 2006. "Being an Army brat (her father, Eric, is a retired lieutenant colonel), I'm very patriotic. I want the U.S. to be up there. I think that we have deep talent. We just need to get girls who perform under pressure. I'm finally figuring out how to handle the pressure."

In June 2011, Wagner moved from her training center in Wilmington, Del., and her family in Annapolis, Md., to give her dream of competing in the Olympics one final shot.

"Last year was the make it or break it year for me," she says. "I didn't want to be one of those skaters who couldn't let go if nothing was going to happen. So I decided I was going to put everything on the line and if it didn't work out then I would go back home and go to school."

With Nicks, who was also Cohen's coach, she found exactly what she needed. "Ashley knows he means business," says Melissa Wagner. "I think Ashley secretly needed that and thrives on that, but earlier in her career she would have never admitted that."

Wagner is also coached by choreographer Phillip Mills, whose fatherly approach makes the ice feel a lot warmer. Her new coaches have improved her technique on her jumps and spins, but mostly they have her steadied her confidence.

"What Mr. Nicks saw was a consistent skater who under pressure couldn't put up the goods," she says. "The mental aspect of my training is where he really has helped me because confidence leads to consistency under pressure."

Which will likely lead to continued success. "She's not making the big mistake," says Olympic gold medalist and analyst Scott Hamilton. " She's comfortable on the ice and she's found her artistic voice.

"It's like holding sand. Do you grip it or allow it to rest in your open palm? And for a long time she was gripping it trying to make it happen and honestly the best way to skate is to train really well, hone your consistency so the jumps will never betray you and then letting it happen. She's not getting in her way anymore. She's just allowing it to happen."

And maybe, sometime soon, Wagner will allow herself to celebrate.