This stunning Spelling Bee winner photo sums it all up
This stunning Spelling Bee winner photo sums it all up
The 100th Scripps National Spelling Bee is over, and we have a winner who overcame a rough late-bee error to win it all.
Faizan Zaki, a 13-year-old from Allen, Texas, finished as a runner-up last year and was one of the three spellers left on Thursday when he was given "commelina." He immediately started spelling it wrong and told head judge Mary Brooks to ring the bell for an incorrect answer.
You can see that moment below, but he got through to spell the final word correct: éclaircissement, which he nailed right away without asking for language origin or to be used in a sentence.
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The result? A win and his reaction was simply the best:
You have to love it. He fell right to the ground in pure elation. And why did he spell words quickly? Per the Associated Press:
Faizan had a more nuanced explanation: After not preparing for the spell-off last year, he overcorrected, emphasizing speed during his study sessions.
Congrats to Faizan, who needed four tries to get the victory. Here he is talking about his preparation, in which he talked to CNN about how he focused on the vocabulary and the spell-off at the end:
What a win! And we'll leave it off with the photo of Zaki collapsed on stage, which sums it all up:
Awesome.
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