Cohen shows old form
Nagasu leads, but former champ lurks
Maybe Mirai Nagasu is out to change the world order, which may just happen if she changes the pecking order in women’s figure skating.
But it won’t be easy, not with the way Sasha Cohen skated in her comeback.
Nagasu, a 16-year-old from Montebello, Calif., scored 70.06 points in the short program of Ladies Singles at the 2010 U.S. Figure Skating Champions at the Arena Thursday night, just enough to hold off Cohen, 25, the 2006 champion and Olympic silver medalist.
Cohen, who lives in Newport Beach., Calif., scored 69.63, followed closely by 16-year-old Rachael Flatt (69.35) of Del Mar, Calif.
Ashley Wagner, 18, of Alexandria, Va., the only American to make the Grand Prix finals, fell on her triple lutz but still finished fourth at 62.55.
Defending champion Alissa Czisny fell early and was seventh with 54.18 points, putting her behind 15-year-old Christina Gao of Cincinnai (56.26) and 16-year-old Amanda Dobbs of Clovis, Calif. (56.11).
Cohen’s first competition since the 2006 season had the Arena crowd of 7,661 buzzing.
“After that program, to see everybody stand up, I was just so happy to be out there, skating again,” Cohen said. “To overcome what I had to to be here. It was really, really special.”
Nagasu was special as well. She brought the crowd to its feet with a well-executed combination spin to end her performance to selections from “Pirates of the Caribbean.” Then she held court with the poise for a certain two-time Olympian who made her first appearance at Nationals when Nagasu was 6.
When asked about the possibility of capturing one of the two spots up for grabs for the Winter Olympics, Nagasu said, “I’m not considered a candidate for the Olympics. I’m just here to show myself and everyone I’m the future for the USA.”
Asked how that could be, considering she was the 2007 Junior champion in Spokane and followed that up with a Senior title in 2008, the first to do that in 70 years, she replied, “I’m not like in my personal bubble all the time. I do have access to the Internet, I can read what peo- ple write about and I’m never included. I just want to be the dark horse.”
And, now that she can’t be the dark horse heading into Saturday afternoon’s long program, she said, “There’s always more that I can do. The U.S. is not at the top of figure skating right now. I think that’s an embarrassment because of the rich history the USA has.”
It’s not like she won’t have competition. Flatt set the tone early with a spirited skate to “Sing, Sing, Sing.”
The 17-year-old from California who trains at Colorado Springs, Colo., had a wobbly landing on her triple flip but completed the combination with a triple toe.
“I was a little anxious after I landed the flip, it was probably one of the worst landings on the flip I’ve had on a triple-triple all week,” she said. “Both my jumps were a little shaky but I think I did a pretty good job fighting for them and making sure they looked fairly decent.”
Flatt was thrilled when her score was announced, which set a high bar since she was the third skater to perform.
“At that point I was responding that I had done a clean program in competition with a triple-triple,” she said. “I’d been struggling with that in competition all season. Pushing 70 points is exciting for me.”
After the intermission for Hall of Fame inductions the crowd settled in to see Cohen skate to “Espana Cani” and hung on her every move. About the only bobble was the landing on the triple lutz of her opening combination.
“I was just taking it one step at a time,” she said. “I was a little nervous when I was skating on the ice to get ready. I just walked through everything to get comfortable and tried to stay in the moment.”
“There’s so much pressure to do everything in a short program, every element is so important. It’s almost like you can’t let yourself relax.”
Czisny, fourth to skate, had her dream of defending her national title 30 seconds into her performance, which followed Flatt. She fell on her opening triple.
“I’m not sure, I usually don’t miss that jump … so I was a little bit shocked.,” the 22-year-old from Ohio said. “It’s disappointing. I’m sure nerves are part of it, there’s a lot on the line. There is a little bit of pressure coming in as the national champion. That’s a place I’ve never been before.”