WASHINGTON (AP) — Shrey Parikh felt his body shake from nerves and doubts every time he walked to the microphone at the Scripps National Spelling Bee, the final test of a six-year competitive spelling career marked by triumph and heartbreak that he knew could end at any moment.Then he listened to pronouncer Jacques Bailly, and his dour body language vanished as he nodded vigorously, his tell that, yes, he knew the words he was asked to spell. All of them.“Once I get the word,” Shrey said, “I’m not really nervous anymore, because then it’s all in my control.”Shrey arrived as a favorite and walked away as a National Spelling Bee champion Thursday night, outlasting a deep and experienced group of finalists and beating Ishaan Gupta in a lightning-round tiebreaker that looked like it was over as soon as Shrey raced through his first word.
His final tally: 32 words spelled correctly in 90 seconds, a record for the shootout-style finish that was first used in 2022.“I was counting and I’m like, OK, this is more than 30,” said Shrey’s mother, Khyati Mehta. “And at that point, I’m like, ‘I think this is it.’”
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