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Skaters must accommodate a split schedule for U.S. Championships

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Figure skating has a scoring system only a computer could love, a judging mandate that accentuates the negative by nitpicking performances to death and technical requirements that lead to tediously repetitive performances.

As if that hadn’t damaged the sport’s visibility enough, here comes another turnoff: a U.S. Figure Skating Championships that begins today in Spokane, Wash., and drags over two weekends, with three dark days in the middle, to satisfy NBC’s programming demands.

Not only has that forced many cash-strapped fans and media to make a choice about which part to attend -- pairs and men this weekend, ice dance and women next -- it has created a conundrum for the men and pairs skaters who do well enough to earn a spot in the Jan. 24 encore show.

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Do they go back to their training base during the days off, which could mean tiresome, extra coast-to-coast travel, or do they hang around in Spokane, where the results will determine who skates in the upcoming Olympics?

Jeremy Abbott, the defending men’s champion, will return to train in Detroit and is not concerned about the two long trips, the second only three weeks before the Olympic men’s competition begins.

Reigning U.S. pairs champions Keauna McLaughlin and Rockne Brubaker are planning to stay in Spokane 13 days because they did not want the extra flights, even from relatively close Southern California.

Three-time U.S. champion Johnny Weir, who trains in New Jersey, called the two-weekend schedule “a hassle, especially this close to the Olympic Games.”

U.S. Figure Skating has no choice but to do what NBC wants, since no other network was interested in the sport when the federation lost its ABC sponsorship in 2008.

At least Spokane seems likely to greet these U.S. Championships as passionately as it did the five-day nationals the city played host to in 2007, when the event’s record total attendance (154,893) was 23% higher than any other nationals in history. Advance sales for this year’s event are 140,000.

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A fierce competition is expected among the women because only two Olympic places are available and among the men as the deepest group of talented skaters of any country will be going after three places.

There are two Olympic places in pairs and three in dance.

Three U.S. champions are scheduled to skate in the women’s event -- Alissa Czisny (2009), Mirai Nagasu (2008) and Olympic silver medalist Sasha Cohen (2006) -- but the favorite is Rachael Flatt, last year’s runner-up.

Also in the mix: Ashley Wagner, the only U.S. woman to make this season’s Grand Prix final; Caroline Zhang, the one-time phenom who has struggled badly the last two seasons, and Emily Hughes, a 2006 Olympian (seventh place) who has missed the last two nationals with injuries.

The men’s event also includes three U.S. champions -- Abbott, Weir and two-time winner Evan Lysacek -- and strong skaters such as world team members Brandon Mroz and Ryan Bradley and a rising star in two-time world junior champion Adam Rippon.

“I really would like to defend my title, but that is not really my goal,” Abbott said. “My goal is the Olympics.”

Winning still has its rewards. While the order of finish probably will determine the Olympic team, only the champion in each event is guaranteed a ticket to Vancouver.

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phersh@tribune.com

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