After coming in as runner-up during last year’s Scripps National Spelling Bee and bungling an earlier chance to win on Thursday night, Faizan Zaki was given a word that, if spelled correctly, would let him finally win it all: “éclaircissement.”
He smiled and, without hesitation, stated each letter easily, then collapsed on the floor amid a shower of confetti. The 13-year-old of Plano, Texas, didn’t even need to ask for the word’s meaning, “a clearing up of something obscure.”
The stunning win capped a surprising run that took down six finalists and momentarily left the bee’s winner in doubt.
Here are five takeaways from the competition.
The nine finalists were unflappable.
None of the nine finalists were eliminated in the first round as they easily tackled words like “isopag,” “ethology” and “Politique.” The vocabulary round took out the first finalist, Akshaj Somisetty, 13, of Harrisburg, Pa., after he incorrectly defined “imbroglio.”
In the third round, Esha Marupudi, 13, of Phoenix, was eliminated after misspelling “aromorphosis,” and Oliver Halkett, 13, of Los Angeles, was out after struggling with the word “aurore.”
But even as those spellers stumbled, there was a pervasive calm on the stage. The next three rounds had no eliminations. The final six spellers, representing California, New Jersey, New York, Georgia, Texas and North Carolina, coolly spelled their words. It seemed like it would be a long night.
Sarv stole the spotlight.
Many of the spellers were all business. They came to the microphone, asked the allotted questions and went back to their chairs after correctly spelling a word.
Then there was Sarv Dharavane, 11, of Tucker, Ga., the youngest finalist on Thursday night.
At one point in the evening, he went up to the microphone and asked the judges, “What’s up?” As the crowd giggled, he quipped, “Here goes nothing,” then correctly spelled “burgall.”
He eventually came in third, after misspelling “eserine.”
Sarv was not the only finalist to add a moment of levity. When Jacques Bailly, the head pronouncer warned Faizan that one of his words was a homonym, Faizan answered him by saying, “Bro.”
The competition almost ended in the eighth round.
The field shrunk by half in the seventh round when Harini Murali, 13, of Edison, N.J., missed “tekke.” Aishwarya Kallakuri, 14, of Charlotte, N.C., stumbled on the word “Keighley,” the name of a town in England. And Brian Liu, 13, of Great Neck, N.Y., came close on “kyah.”
That reduced the field to three competitors. And it could have ended after both Sarv and Sarvadnya Kadam, 14, of Visalia, Calif., misspelled their words.
But Faizan, primed to win the competition, got ahead of himself. Mr. Bailly had barely finished saying the word “commelina,” when Faizan began spelling, “k-a-m ——” He then threw back his head, immediately recognizing his mistake.
“Bring it on,” he said.
That sent all three of the finalists back to competition.
“Well this is surprising,” Sarv quipped when he returned to the microphone.
Mary Brooks had the hardest job of the night.
Mary Brooks, a judge with more than 50 years of experience with the bee, rang the dreaded bell all night long, signaling when a contestant had misspelled a word. The sound led to gasps and groans from the crowd.
But Ms. Brooks, wearing a necklace featuring a large bee, softened the blow by giving each fallen competitor individualized speeches filled with affirmations and encouragement.
She told them how proud they had made their communities and praised them for their positive energy and kindness.
Faizan added his name to a short list.
In the ninth round, Faizan got another chance at greatness after his two main rivals missed their words.
Winning would make him the fifth champion in bee history to triumph after finishing in second place. The last time a runner-up was crowned champion the following year was in 2001, when Sean Conley hoisted the trophy overhead.
But first, Faizan would have to correctly spell two words. Mr. Bailly encouraged him — and everyone in the room — to take a deep breath and slow down.
“That did not help at all,” Faizan said to laughs.
He spelled “Chaldee” correctly before being told what would ultimately be the winning word: “éclaircissement.”
Trophy in hand, he was rendered speechless. “I don’t know what to say, I’m just really happy,” he said, adding, “I’m probably going stay up the entire night or something!”
Talya Minsberg is a Times reporter covering breaking and developing news.
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