By Adeel Hassan New York Times
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Faizan Zaki, last year’s runner-up at the Scripps National Spelling Bee, came back from a late-stage flub in Thursday’s competition to easily spell “éclaircissement” and take home the winning prize of $50,000.

Faizan, a 13-year-old from Plano, Texas, had an earlier chance to win this year’s bee, after mistakes in the eighth round by two other finalists. But excitement might have gotten the better of him. Hardly before the word “commelina” had left the pronouncer’s mouth, Faizan jumped on it, saying, “k-a-m —”

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He recognized his mistake right away, but it was too late. “Bring it on,” he said, as he and the other two remaining spellers advanced to another round.

“I was stunned, but still cautiously optimistic,” said Faizan’s coach, Scott Remer. “But that’s why it’s critical to ask questions and collect oneself before spelling.”

In the ninth round, Sarv Dharavane, 11, of Tucker, Georgia, the youngest finalist, was knocked out by “eserine.” In the 10th round, Sarvadnya Kadam, 14, of Visalia, California, misspelled “Uaupés,” which is a river in Colombia and Brazil.

That left Faizan with another chance at victory. Once again, he seemed too excited to slow down and ask questions. But this time, his execution was flawless.

“É-c-l-a-i-r-c-i-s-s-e-m-e-n-t,” Faizan said, without a moment’s hesitation. The word means, somewhat ironically, “a clearing up of something obscure.”

Corrie Loeffler, the bee’s executive director, said it was “about the most exciting ending I’ve ever seen.”

The competition was held at the Gaylord National Resort and Convention Center in National Harbor, Maryland, on the banks of the Potomac River.

Nine spellers entered Thursday’s finals. The week got underway with 243 contestants from all 50 states, Puerto Rico, the U.S. Virgin Islands and the Northern Mariana Islands. Spellers also hailed from the Bahamas, Canada, Germany, Ghana, Kuwait and Nigeria. There were 178 first-timers, and about 30% of all contestants were 14 (the youngest was 8).

The bee celebrated its 100th anniversary this year, but it was canceled four times over the last century — from 1943 to 1945 because of World War II, and in 2020 because of the coronavirus pandemic. Before this year, there had been 109 champions, 56 boys and 53 girls. The outsize number stems, in large part, from an eight-way tie in 2019.

This article originally appeared in The New York Times.

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