Kwan All But Conceded U.S. Title At 14, Should Would Be The Youngest To Win Ladies’ National Championship
She looks, acts and sounds every bit the typical teen-age girl. Michelle Kwan thinks about shopping, friends, school work and her favorite television shows.
Like, she, like, says “like” all the time.
Frank Carroll, Michelle Kwan’s coach
But strap on a pair of skates, and Kwan is transformed. In Providence, R.I., this week, Kwan is expected to become the youngest national champion in the history of U.S. ladies figure skating.
At 14, she is said to be significantly better than her closest rivals, Nicole Bobek of Chicago and Tonia Kwiatkowski of Broadview Heights, Ohio.
Kwan was chosen in 1994 as Figure Skater of the Year at a Skating Magazine banquet, the announcement coming as she sat next to her friend, Olympic silver medalist Nancy Kerrigan.
“I was sitting at the skaters’ table,” Kwan remembers, “and we were all talking, and Nancy kept on going, `Pay attention, Michelle,’ and I said OK, but I didn’t know what she was talking about.
“And they were saying, `Someone you all know very well,’ and they called my name, and I went, `What?’ Weird. I was like, huh? I didn’t know what to say.”
Kerrigan has turned pro, Tonya Harding was banned for life for her alleged involvement in the attack that left Kerrigan injured last year, and no other skaters appear capable of seriously challenging Kwan.
She finished third in the 1994 nationals, behind Kerrigan and Harding, and now is being hailed as the next American skating superstar, following in the elegant tracks of Peggy Fleming and Dorothy Hamill.
“She has a real good head on her shoulders,” said Frank Carroll, the internationally acclaimed coach, who trains Kwan at Lake Arrowhead. “Her mom and dad are really good about explaining to her that she’s not going to be the Ice Princess indefinitely.”
Linda Fratianne (1977) and Carol Heiss (1957), who share the record for being the youngest female skater ever to win the U.S. championship, were each 16 years old when they won their first title.
Kwan, with a two-year head start over those great skaters, said she is hoping for an amateur career that will take her through three more Olympiads, including the Games of 2006. She’ll be 25 then.
“The nationals are a very impor tant step,” she said, “but my goal is just to pull off everything I want to do and skate my best and just be proud of that.”
Among her competitors will be her older sister, 16-year-old Karen Kwan. They will be the first siblings entered in the same national championship since Carol and Nancy Heiss in 1959.
The fact that her little sister is the nation’s top-ranked female skater doesn’t seem to bother Karen.
“I’m proud of her. I’m glad she’s doing so well, because she’s worked very hard,” Karen said. “I envy her because she’s a good skater, but it’s not like jealousy. I just have to … figure out a program so that maybe some day I’ll be as good as her.”