Nari Nam Pulls Out Before Nationals

Unable to completely regain her stamina and sharpness after a hip injury kept her off the ice for six weeks, Naomi Nari Nam on Tuesday withdrew from the U.S. figure skating championships.

That added to the string of disappointments that the 15-year-old Irvine resident has faced since her attention-grabbing second-place finish at the 1999 championships.

She hasn’t competed since she finished eighth at last year’s U.S. championships in Cleveland.

Although her hip fracture healed, she ran out of time as she tried to run through her programs well enough and often enough to satisfy John Nicks, who coaches her at Costa Mesa’s Ice Chalet.

“Really, the long program wasn’t going well enough,” he said. “She got her jumps back, but the percentage of times she was doing everything was not enough.

“It was difficult for her, but it was probably the best decision. She did say she was upset because she wanted to see her friends, so she said she might come to see the ladies Friday.”

Sasha Cohen of Laguna Niguel, the 2000 women’s runner-up and another of Nicks’ pupils, has a stress fracture in a vertebra but remains among the 19 competitors. Nicks said Cohen, 16, was on a flight to Boston on Tuesday afternoon. The women’s competition begins Friday, with the short program, and concludes Saturday.

“She skated pretty well [Tuesday] morning,” Nicks said. “She skated the short cleanly, but she’s not very comfortable. I have a lot of concern, not only with her but over getting so many different medical opinions. I was speaking to a doctor this morning who said she should be off the ice three months.”

News of injuries dominated the first day of competition. Injuries are so widespread even former skaters aren’t immune.

ABC commentator Dick Button, a two-time Olympic champion, has been hospitalized in New York after he slipped while skating and hit his head on the ice.

He was preparing for an appearance in tonight’s opening ceremony, which will honor the skaters and coaches killed when the U.S. figure skating team’s plane crashed in Belgium en route to the 1961 world championships. Button will miss the ceremony.

In addition, Tenley Albright, the 1956 Olympic champion, broke her wrist while skating last weekend on Boston’s Frog Pond. She might participate tonight.

Steve Hartsell, who shared the 1999 pairs title with his sister, Danielle, suffered a gash on the back of his head Tuesday that required 12 to 15 stitches when he fell backward while hoisting Danielle in a star lift during practice at the FleetCenter.

He was taken by ambulance to Boston Children’s Hospital, where he was treated. Tests showed he had not suffered a concussion.

He was released a few hours later and will be reexamined today before the warmup for the short program, the first phase of the pairs event. Dr. Lyle Micheli, medical director of the event, said Hartsell is expected to compete. Danielle fell on top of her brother and was shaken but not hurt.

They missed last year’s national competition after Steve dropped Danielle from a star lift and she broke her kneecap.

Their coach, Johnny Johns, joked about the cosmetic consequences.

“We may have to dye his hair to cover where it’s shaved,” he said.

Minor infirmities are hampering defending women’s champion Michelle Kwan and quadruple-jumping sensation Timothy Goebel, but both are expected to compete.

Kwan has a sore back and Goebel has a sprained right knee, but neither is considered serious.

Kwan began experiencing soreness a few weeks ago, and her coach, Frank Carroll, attributed it to the twisting of her midsection when she does combination jumps. However, that didn’t prevent her from testing the FleetCenter ice Tuesday.

“She didn’t complain about pain, but she was a little bit stiff,” Carroll said. “As long as she warms up and doesn’t go out cold, she’s OK. She didn’t complain once. She’s pretty tough.”

Goebel, the U.S. men’s runner-up last year and the first U.S. man to land a quadruple jump in competition, hurt his knee about two weeks ago.

*

Two-time defending U.S. ice dance champions Naomi Lang and Peter Tchernyshev of Hackensack, N.J., won the first phase of the dance competition, the compulsory dances. Their version of the Westminster Waltz and the Silver Samba were ranked first by all nine judges.

Beata Handra and Charles Sinek were second, followed by Jessica Joseph and Brandon Forsyth. The compulsory dances are worth 20% of the final score.