Bruhat Soma wins National Spelling Bee after slow night ends in sudden tiebreaker

OXON HILL, Md. (AP) — Bruhat Soma insisted he was nervous during downtime as he waited to take the stage at the Scripps National Spelling Bee, and he felt even more pressure to play considering he hadn’t lost a spelling bee in eight months.

However, he never showed any nervousness in front of the microphone, and when the bee abruptly went to a lightning tiebreaker known as a “spell-off”, he couldn’t have been more comfortable.

The 12-year-old seventh grader from Tampa, Fla., wrote 30 words in 90 seconds Thursday night, sounding more like an auctioneer than the best speller in the English language, and judges determined that he had spelled 29 of them correctly – nine. more than his competitor, Faizan Zaki. As champion, Bruhat receives a trophy and more than $50,000 in cash and prizes.

He repeated the spell every day for six months.

“I was pretty confident that I had a chance to win because I had worked really hard,” Bruhat said, explaining why he spent so much time on a tiebreaker that he may not even have had. no need. “And I really wanted to win. That’s why I practiced the spell so much.

Had he known how Scripps would run the final rounds, he might have devoted even more time to his speed training. There was no doubt that Bruhat was a worthy champion, but the conclusion left many observers disappointed and confused.

“I don’t think it’s a good bee,” said Dev Shah, last year’s champion. “It’s not about spelling as many words as possible in 90 seconds. That’s not what the spelling bee is.

The final began with eight spellers, the fewest since 2010, and it was clear that Scripps was trying to fill the two-hour broadcast window on Ion, a network owned by the Cincinnati-based media company. Frequent, long commercial breaks allowed spellers to wander to the side of the stage, chatting with their coaches, loved ones and fans.

And then Bee officials announced it was time for the tiebreaker before Bruhat and Faizan even had a chance to face off in a conventional round.

“I would have liked to see more of a duel between them,” said Charlotte Walsh, who finished second to Dev in 2023.

Competition rules state that a spell is used to buy time, but Scripps still managed another commercial break between the tiebreaker and the announcement of Bruhat’s victory.

“It was so forced and manufactured,” Dev said.

Scripps said Bruhat’s winning word was “rappel,” defined as “a mountaineering descent by means of a rope passed over a projection above.” In the tiebreaker — which was used once before, when Harini Logan won in 2022 — the winning word is the one which gives a speller one more correct word than its competitor.

Shortly after Bruhat was showered with confetti and presented the trophy, Faizan was in tears at the side of the stage, accepting hugs from fellow spellers. A few minutes earlier, he had hugged his good friend, Shrey Parikh, after Shrey’s elimination.

Faizan delivered his final words during the regular competition, rushing into the ‘nicuri’ without asking a single question and returning to his seat, a moment reminiscent of The spelling of “Mogollon” by Shourav Dasari in 2017.

But the 12-year-old from Allen, Texas, didn’t get the chance to do it again.

“I really think they should have had the opportunity to take conventional spelling tests before defaulting to spelling,” said Scott Remer, one of four coaches who worked with Faizan.

Entering the competition, Bruhat won the Words of Wisdom competition organized by Remer, a former speller and study guide author. He won the SpellPundit competition organized by this study guide company. And he won the first-ever online bee hosted by Dev, last year’s Scripps champion.

“I always want to win. And that was my main goal,” Bruhat said. “It didn’t matter if I won all those other bees. That’s what I was aiming for. So I’m really happy to have won.

Her last loss was in September at the WishWin senior spelling bee. He misspelled “Gloucester”, a cheese named after the city in England. He said he knew the town but didn’t know it was also a cheese, and he guessed “glaucester.”

“After that, I guess I went on a winning streak,” he said.

Bruhat said there was a word Thursday night that he didn’t know: “tennesi,” a currency unit of Turkmenistan. Ananya Prassanna got it right during the bee’s most evil trick, when every word had a language of unknown, obscure or non-existent origin. The 13-year-old from Apex, North Carolina, tied for third.

Bruhat is the second consecutive champion from the Tampa Bay area, and his victory means that 29 of the last 35 spelling bee champions have been Indian-American. His parents immigrated from the southern Indian state of Telangana, a region well represented among the race of native american champions and competitors who debuted in 1999.

Nupur Lala was the winner that year and inspired an entire generation, especially after her triumph was featured in the documentary “Spellbound”. Now a neuro-oncologist, Lala returned to the bee this year for the first time in a decade.

Bruhat’s victory was also a proud moment for a former speller turned previously unknown coach: 16-year-old Sam Evans, who worked with three of the top four. He also mentored Faizan and Shrey, a 12-year-old from Rancho Cucamonga, California. Both are in sixth grade and have two years of eligibility remaining.

Evans was often amazed by Bruhat, claiming that his student could remember any word he saw and that once he missed a word he would never make a mistake again.

“He always says he’s nervous, but he doesn’t look nervous, like most of them look nervous,” Evans said. “I can’t explain this. I don’t know how he does it.

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Ben Nuckols has covered the Scripps National Spelling Bee since 2012. Follow him on https://x.com/APBenNuckols