ST. LOUIS -- An hour before taking the ice as the
overwhelming favorite at the U.S. Figure Skating Championships,
Sasha Cohen stood by the sideboards, staring at the rink. Her eyes
seemed to follow a route around the glistening surface, as if she
was watching someone perform.
She was. Cohen was visualizing her short program. And when she
actually skated it, the performance was just what she needed.
Coming off a bout with the flu, Cohen easily won the short
program Thursday night with 65.15 points. Considered just about a
lock for her first national title once Michelle Kwan withdrew with
a groin injury, Cohen is well-positioned for Saturday's free skate
-- and the one guaranteed spot on the U.S. team for next month's
Olympics.
But she knew it could have been better.
"This is definitely not half as good as I've been doing in
practice," she said. "My transitions, my spins, my speed were
really suffering. I just kind of wanted to get from beginning to
end.
"I just didn't have the training and strength to really be 100
percent out there."
That's bad news for the rest of the field.
Cohen, 21, a two-time world silver medalist considered a serious
contender for gold at Turin, two-footed her triple flip. Otherwise,
she was far superior to the rest of the women. Skating to "Dark
Eyes," -- and with a determined look in her own dark eyes -- she was
faster than usual, despite her protestations to the contrary. Cohen
was smooth, with incredible extensions, especially on her spirals.
She seemed to embrace the program emotionally during her footwork
near the end of the 2-minute, 50-second routine.
"I've learned to let go of the worry, to leave that in
training," she said. "When I go out there to perform, to enjoy it
as much as possible."
Kwan, who plans to start jumping again Friday, has petitioned
U.S. Figure Skating for a berth in Turin and is expected to get it
if she proves she is healthy. A selection committee will choose the
two spots that don't go to the national champion.
Cohen missed Kwan on Thursday night.
"It feels a little empty out here," she admitted. "Ever since
I've heard of figure skating or been at a nationals, Michelle's
always been a big part of the event. So I definitely feel a little
empty. It doesn't even quite feel like a nationals. But I've had so
many of my own things going on this week to occupy me."
With Cohen and Kwan almost certainly headed for the games, the
competition for the third slot is tense and tight.
Emily Hughes, younger sister of 2002 Olympic champion Sarah,
didn't let a dropped earring deter her. She had a spunky
performance in which she barely saved her triple lutz-double toe
loop combination, then lit up with a huge smile she carried through
the rest of the routine. She was second by only .29 points over the
evening's surprise performer, Bebe Liang.
"It flew out of my ear and everybody had to come out and find
my back," Hughes said of the costume problem. "That was a really
good performance for me, and I'm really excited it happened
today."
Hughes, 16, isn't nearly the accomplished skater her sister was
at this age. She lacks the footwork and overall grace of Sarah, but
she is a dynamic spinner and moves more swiftly than most of her
peers.
"She called me, wished me luck," Emily said of Sarah, who
attends Yale and will be in St. Louis for the free skate Saturday.
"She said she was going to watch."
If Sarah Hughes watched, she also saw last year's U.S. bronze
medalist, Kimmie Meissner, mess up her combination jump, adding a
step and a turn in her triple lutz-triple toe loop. The 16-year-old
who last January became the first U.S. woman to land a triple axel
in competition in 14 years, stood fourth.
She also is fighting off illness.
"The mistake on the combination and the one combination spin
was kind of slow, and I can do my spins a little bit better," said
Meissner, who displayed little emotion during her routine. "I
didn't really feel that bad after the mistake because it wasn't a
major mistake. I still got the combination off. With being sick,
you have less energy."
Liang, the final skater of the evening, took advantage of
mistakes by Meissner and Alissa Czisny to grab third place.
Czisny, the early-season sensation who was second at Skate
America and won Skate Canada, had a difficult night. Even though
her spins rivaled everyone else, she fell twice, including a splat
on a double axel. That dropped her to fifth.
Earlier Thursday, two-time champion Johnny Weir's exquisite
rendition of "The Swan" won the men's short program. Weir
finished with a personal-best 83.28, almost six points ahead of
Michael Weiss.
"Figure skating is an amazing ride," Weir said. "You're
feeling like the lowest scum in the pond two hours ago, and go to
the prettiest flower in the pond. It shows you the best and worst
attributes."
World bronze medalist Evan Lysacek was third.