Lipinski Seems Just Like Kwan Latest Teen Skating Star Adjusts To Changing Times

Before Tara Lipinski, there was Michelle Kwan.

Were the 14-year-old Kwan of two years ago to be superimposed on the 14-year-old Lipinski of today, the similarities would be remarkable: clean, consistent jumpers, well-rehearsed routines, tireless skaters.

In real time, 16-year-old Kwan, displaying a maturity matching her technical ability, hasn’t been able to match Lipinski’s unflinching confidence to repeat her 1996 world title. She finished second.

Lipinski, master of her 4-foot-8 and 75-pound frame, hit the magic seven triple jumps Saturday, and reached for a sophistication beyond her years, to become the youngest woman to win the world figure skating title.

Lipinski of Sugarland, Texas, is one month younger than Sonja Henie when she won the first of 10 world titles in 1927 - and it’ll take a rules change for anyone to beat that.

The International Skating Union has raised the age limit for international championships to 15, but Lipinski was grandfathered in by her participation in last year’s worlds.

But Lipinski’s leap from 15th in 1996 to women’s champion was beyond her own imagining.

Lipinski now admits becoming unnerved by her first world championships last year and by the possibility that she might beat her hero, Midori Ito, who bombed the short program. That thinking backfired: Lipinski finished 23rd in the short.

One year later, her choreography has been reworked to let the audience and judges see her emerging grace in spins and spirals before it’s eclipsed by her jumping power. Her hair is pulled back, face made up.

Lipinski has come of age at a time when the emphasis is shifting toward athleticism, while a maturing competition has had trouble keeping up with the physical and mental changes.

The advances in technical ability - accelerated by a growing number of competitions - has made the fight for the podium a scrappier, performance-driven competition, in both men’s and women’s skating.