Unbeatable?
Kwan imperfect, still leads weak U.S. Championship field
Posted: Friday February 12, 1999 01:28 AM
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Kwan: "I have to work to stay at the top of my game." AP |
SALT LAKE CITY (AP) -- Michelle Kwan at her best means a slew of 6.0s on the scoreboard, standing ovations and a sense that she couldn't do any better.
That was what Kwan did a year ago in dominating the U.S. Figure Skating Championships. She doesn't need to be anywhere near so good against a weakened field this time -- and she wasn't.
Still, she received one perfect mark and eight 5.9s for presentation Thursday night in winning the short program. Those sterling marks came even though Kwan herself found some imperfections in her performance to "The Fate of Carmen."
"I felt really strong and confident," said Kwan, a two-time world champion closing in on her third American crown. "My lutz was a little shaky, higher than usual. But I guess I have to be prepared for anything."
Even for a 6.0 for such a performance? Kwan was asked if she would have given herself one.
"Yeah," she said with a laugh. "All 6.0s.
"The judges have judged for so many years and when they give me a 6.0, it's an honor."
It should be more of the same Saturday in the free skate, worth two-thirds of the overall score. Against a group of young, generally unproven skaters -- at least at this level -- Kwan appears unbeatable.
Sarah Hughes, the rising 13-year-old who was runner-up in the recent World Junior Championships, was second.
"I don't really like to think about placements," she said. "I just wanted to be happy with my performances and so far I am happy with my short."
Hughes, the American junior winner a year ago, edged 20-year-old Amber Corwin, who wound up third in the short program.
But neither of them is likely to push Kwan, who instead must use inner motivation to progress this year. Tara Lipinski, who edged Kwan at the Nagano Games last February, is a professional. Nicole Bobek, the only other remote challenger to Kwan, dropped out of nationals because of illness.
"You know there are people out there working as hard and maybe harder than you," Kwan said after hitting a triple lutz-double toe loop combination, a double axel and a triple toe loop, along with some sensational spirals. "I have to work to stay at the top of my game."
Hughes might climb that mountain someday. So might the equally precocious Naomi Nari Nam, who despite banging her head on the ice when falling on a triple flip -- she appeared ready to stop skating, then continued and did everything else in her routine -- wound up fourth. Nam also is 13 and in her first year of seniors.
"It can happen very quickly," said Robin Wagner, Hughes' coach. "I want her to be prepared and I want her to travel through the proper progression of steps."
Corwin, sixth in the 1998 nationals, was the only woman to do a triple-triple combination, both toe loops. But she had trouble with her spins.
"I have been working on other triples -- triple loop-triple loop and triple lutz-triple loop," said Corwin, who apparently feels she must emulate Lipinski in order to challenge Kwan. "We also are working on a quadruple toe loop."
Angela Nikodinov, fifth last year, was expected to be Kwan's closest pursuer. But she had a bad night, failing to do a combination jump and cutting a triple flip into a double to drop to sixth.
All the shuffling might continue behind the top spot, which belonged to Kwan even on a somewhat off night.
"I would call it a good, consistent performance," coach Frank Carroll said. "Remember, we are probably our own worst critics. It wasn't probably the greatest performance of her life."
It didn't need to be.
Copyright 2003 Associated Press. All rights reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten, or redistributed.
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