Ken Congemi has looked at the videos, the ones that show a 4-foot-6, 63-pound, preteen girl jumping into the elite at the U.S. Figure Skating Championships.

"She was one of those phenoms like we are seeing right now who went out there and jumped and didn't have to worry about technique or anything," Congemi said. "Then you get some injuries, and the body starts changing, and what was child's play isn't so easy."

In front of him on the Toyota Sports Center ice in El Segundo is the skater in the videos, Bebe Liang, now 5 feet tall and nearly 20 years old, no longer tiny but still trim. Liang has been skating better in practice than she has in the three seasons with Congemi as her coach but still is trying to make the leap to the awards podium at the senior national level.

She has persevered, fighting injuries, hanging in there during years while others who showed similar promise have come and gone. She has bridged two generations of skaters but never felt old until this season, when the top four finishers at nationals were 14, 15, 16 and 14.

"I understand what it is like for them," Liang said, referring to the new crop of young U.S. stars, "because I was at that place. And, yes, I would maybe say to myself, 'Oh, I wish I was 12 again.'

"I look back at my first senior nationals, and I can tell I didn't even think about the scale of what I was doing."

Liang made her senior national debut in 2001 at age 12, the same age as Michelle Kwan in her 1993 debut. Each finished sixth in a field of talented, veteran skaters in a pre-Olympic season.

Nothing that followed in their careers would be similar, underscoring both how hard it is to go from prodigy to champion in women's skating and also just how remarkable a skater Kwan was.

In 2001, as Liang debuted, Kwan would win her sixth of nine titles and fourth of five world titles.

In 2008, as Mirai Nagasu won the national title in her debut, Liang would finish fifth. That is lower than her career-best fourth place of the year before but good enough to make the U.S. team for this week's world championships in Sweden because the 1-2-4 finishers are below the age minimum.

Liang is the oldest U.S. world meet debutante in the senior women's event since 22-year-old Tonia Kwiatkowski in 1993.

Given the U.S. talent sidelined by the age rules, this could be a once-in-a-lifetime chance for Liang, especially since the U.S. women seem unlikely to place high enough at this worlds to earn three places for the 2009 world meet in Los Angeles.

"I'm very grateful to have the opportunity, no matter how it came about," Liang said. "I should make the most of it and push myself to prove I deserve the spot."

She has been close to earning spots in the worlds and Olympics entirely on her own merit. Liang was second after the short program at the 2007 nationals but fell to fourth, and third after the short program at the 2006 nationals but fell to fifth.

In both cases, the falls were literal: twice on jumps in each free skate.

"Of course, there are doubts and 'What ifs,' " Liang said. "I'm working on pushing those doubts out of my mind and being confident in my ability."

Only once has she thought about quitting, but that owed mainly to sorting out the transition from high school two years ago. Liang said she was accepted at both USC and Pepperdine but has chosen to attend Santa Monica Community College, mostly by Internet, so she could concentrate on skating.

Liang, second of three daughters born to Chinese-American parents, still lives with her family in Granada Hills.

At this point in her career, Liang is not necessarily waiting for the breakthrough performance that could change everything, like Paul Wylie's silver-medal skate at the 1992 Olympics. She simply wants to pull everything together for an entire event.

Liang stumbled badly in her last competition, falling once in the short program and twice in the free skate to finish 11th at February's Four Continents Championships in South Korea.