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Kwan missing as US skaters make their Olympic case

ST LOUIS: Michelle Kwan won’t get a chance to book her Olympic berth at the US Figure Skating championships here this week, but that doesn’t mean the elegant veteran won’t be on the ice in Turin next month.

Kwan, a nine-time national champion and five-time world champion whose impressive resume still lacks Olympic gold, pulled out of the nationals here this week with a groin injury. But Kwan has petitioned US Figure Skating to consider her for one of the three ladies’ places on the Olympic team in the expectation that she’ll be fit in February.

It seems likely US skating officials will grant her request as they have done in the past for Nancy Kerrigan and Todd Eldredge, which will make the battle for second place in St. Louis crucial. In Kwan’s absence, 21-year-old Sasha Cohen is the clear favourite in the ladies’ competition.

Cohen has finished runner-up to Kwan at four national championships and taken silver at the last two world championships. Her challengers include 16-year-old Kimmie eissner, who shot to prominence at the 2004 national championships when she became one of the handful of women to complete a triple axel in competition. She has added little to her resume since, however, and her coach Pam Gregory said she knows her chances of making the Games team depend upon a solid performance. “No matter who’s in St. Louis, it’s still up to Kimmie to skate well and make the team,” Gregory said.

Alissa Czisny, 18, arrives at nationals with a grand prix title at Skate Canada in October - to her credit. And 16-year-old Emily Hughes, younger sister of 2002 Olympic champion Sarah Hughes, has had some encouraging results this season. Meissner admitted that she was inspired by the knowledge that Sarah Hughes, like Tara Lipinski before her at Nagano in 1998, was able to pull off an Olympic upset. “It’s very inspiring to know that younger skaters can pull off something that great,” Meissner said. “If you’re really confident in yourself, you can do anything.” Like the women’s competition, men’s competition will begin Thursday with the short programme and conclude Saturday. Johnny Weir leads a familiar field that also includes surprise 2005 world bronze medallist Evan Lysacek, 29-year-old veteran Michael Weiss and the athletic Timothy Goebel.

Weir, the defending national champion who finished fourth at last year’s worlds, hurt his ankle at Skate Canada and is also thought to be struggling to get to grips with the new scoring system put in place in the wake of the judging scandal at the Salt Lake City Games. He and coach Priscilla Hill have said they feel the new system, which scores individual technical elements, is less friendly to Weir’s artistic style.

“When you’re not comfortable with something, it gets inside your head and everything becomes that much tougher,” Hill said. Competition begins Tuesday in ice dancing, with the top couple of Tanith Belbin and Benjamin Agosto buoyed by Belbin’s recent acquisition of US citizenship, which makes them eligible for Turin. The world silver medallists had skated much of the season doubting they could go to the Games, but US congressional intervention allowed Canadian-born Belbin to utilize a speeded-up process for aliens of extraordinary ability. Ice dance will conclude on Friday, as will the pairs competition featuring defending champions Katie Orscher and Garrett Lucash. afp

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