Emily Hughes' quest for an Olympic medal fell short in Turin Thursday when her free skate performance landed her in seventh place.

The Great Neck 17-year-old produced one clean jump and two clean combinations before falling on a triple loop. Hughes scored a personal best 103.79 in the free skate to finish with a total of 160.87, behind fellow Americans Sasha Cohen (183.16) and Kimmie Meissner (165.71). Cohen entered the free skate narrowly in first place, but fell during her routine and had to settle for the silver medal. Meissner dropped one place to finish in sixth.

Japan's Shizuka Arakawa took advantage of Cohen's errors and a sub-par performance from favorite Irina Slutskaya of Russia to claim the gold. Slutskaya finished in third.

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