Kwan Easily Wins the Short Program

Michelle Kwan got it done, got off the ice and got to watch everyone else fall short.

The 16-year-old world champion, skating second in the short program, swept the judging with a solid performance Friday night in the U.S. Figure Skating Championships. Expected to dominate a field weakened by the withdrawal of one top contender, Sydne Vogel, and the continued slump of another, Nicole Bobek, Kwan was unchallenged.

She isn’t expected to be pushed in tonight’s free skate either as she goes for her second consecutive national title.

“It was awkward, it didn’t seem like a competition,” Kwan said. “It happened so quick; boom and it was done.

“It is not so bad to skate second. It was kind of easy and seemed like another day at the practice rink. Everything was smooth, the audience was great and I heard friends and family screaming for me, so that was even better.

“It is all how you think about it.”

She left plenty for her competition to think about. Not that they had much chance of catching her.

Tara Lipinski and Tonia Kwiatkowski, who at 14 and 26 represent the new wave and old order of American women’s skating, finished behind Kwan.

Kwan, of Torrance, didn’t need the near perfection she exhibited in last year’s World Championships, when she became the youngest American to win that title. Skating to “Dream of Desdemona,” she hit all of her elements, concluding with a superb death drop into a spin.

Because she was the second skater to perform, Kwan’s marks weren’t remarkable. She did get two 5.9s and seven 5.8s for presentation, though.

“I think she is handling it well, the pressure of defending,” her coach, Frank Carroll, said.

Vogel, the world junior champion, dropped out with back spasms. Bobek, who withdrew from the ’96 U.S. Championships with an ankle injury after winning in 1995, stood sixth Friday. She popped her triple toe loop jump, doing only a double, and put a step in between her combination jump.

Lipinski, trying to improve on a third-place finish a year ago, edged ahead of Kwiatkowski, the ’96 runner-up, on the strength of a triple lutz-double loop combination.

“I was really excited and surprised to be on the world team last year,” the 74-pound Lipinski said. “I had to work hard and to concentrate on two clean programs for this year to stay there.”

The only skater who attempted a triple-triple combo was Amber Corwin, who did a triple toe-triple toe and was fourth after the short, worth one-third of the total score.

Kwiatkowski, who turned 26 on Wednesday, skated just after Kwan, and didn’t come close to matching her predecessor. But she nailed all of her elements, although her triple toe loop was shaky, and pumped her arms in the air as she finished.

“I was happy to be on world team last year and my confidence has really increased,” she said.

Later Friday night, the pairs free skate was held, with Kyoko Ina and Jason Dungjen, runners-up the last three years to Jenni Meno and Todd Sand, holding the lead, just ahead of Meno-Sand.