Kwan, Feeling Invigorated, Masters the Short Program

Skating hasn’t lost its allure for Michelle Kwan. If it had, the three-time world champion wouldn’t have begun a second successive year of balancing elite-level competition with studying at UCLA.

But Kwan knew she needed a fresh perspective to maintain her excellence. That’s why she invited 1984 Olympic ice dance champion Christopher Dean to choreograph the short program she performed Thursday at Skate America, the first significant event in her buildup toward the 2002 Olympics.

“I wanted something very different, and I thought, ‘Why not try something new?’ ” Kwan said. “It’s sort of a new way to look at skating through his eyes.”

Kwan had the look of a winner Thursday. Her program wasn’t perfect, but it was proficiently done and well received by fans and judges at Colorado Springs World Arena. The only woman to skate a mistake-free program, Kwan received five 5.9s (out of 6.0) for presentation, putting her in the lead after the first phase of the women’s competition. The finale is Saturday with the long program, worth two-thirds of the final score.

“I’m very pleased with it. It’s hard when you first do a new program,” said Kwan, who retained longtime choreographer Lori Nichol to work on her long program. “You think you’re going to forget something, even though you’ve done it a thousand times. It’s supposed to come natural to you. It’s not coming natural.”

Dean’s changes weren’t earth-shattering, yet they made Kwan feel invigorated.

“His footwork, for example,” she said. “I still haven’t perfected that at all.”

A misstep on the landing of a triple flip cost Sarah Hughes of Great Neck, N.Y., valuable tenths of points for the required elements, but she earned good presentation scores that placed her second. Angela Nikodinov of San Pedro fell on her opening jump--a planned triple lutz-double toe loop--and did a single axel instead of the required double, leaving her seventh.

“This year, I want to establish myself and medal at nationals and worlds, hopefully, too,” said Hughes, who was idle most of the summer after she broke her arm in a practice mishap. “I just want to make the Olympic team.”

U.S. pairs champions Kyoka Ina and John Zimmerman were fifth after the short program, a disappointing result that stemmed from Ina’s fall on the landing of a throw triple salchow. Since that move was a required element, they were penalized heavily. Their scores for the required elements included one 4.9 and peaked at 5.2, leaving them one spot behind the second-ranked U.S. pair of Tiffany Scott and Philip Dulebohn.

“I just knew when I took off, I was really crooked, and I was hoping to land vertical somehow,” Ina said. “I don’t know what happened. It felt fine in practices at home. It felt fine this morning.”

Ina and Zimmerman finished second in the Masters of Figure Skating event two weeks ago, but Ina said she considers Skate America “the real thing,” the first important competition of the season. Starting as they did Thursday wasn’t what they had in mind.

“We just have to find why, when we go out in competition, consistency is a problem,” she said. “If you came to our practices, you’d see it’s like night and day.”

Shen Xue and Zhao Hongbo of China, who backed their fine technique with a brisk pace, led after the short program. Jamie Sale and David Pelletier of Canada, the 1999 Skate America pairs champions, were second, and Tatiana Totmianina and Maxim Marinin of Russia were third. The other U.S. duo, Jessica Miller and Jeffrey Weiss, was seventh in the eight-pair field.

The short program is worth 33% of each pair’s final score. The final portion of the competition, the free skate, will be today.

In ice dancing, world silver medalists Barbara Fusar-Poli and Maurizio Margaglio of Italy were ranked first by six of seven judges in the compulsory dance, which is worth 20% of the final score. Fusar-Poli and Margaglio are the defending Skate America champions.

Shae-Lynn Bourne and Victor Kraatz of Canada, ranked first by the Canadian judge, were second. Naomi Lang and Peter Tchernyshev of the U.S. were third. The other U.S. duo, Beata Handra and Charles Sinek, was seventh.

Ice dancing continues today with the original dance, worth 30% of the final score.