Kwan Is Graceful Winner

Michelle Kwan at slightly less than her best can still outskate any saucy phenom who cares to take her on.

Poised enough to improvise a triple toe loop near the end of her long program to make up for having done a double-double combination instead of a planned triple-triple, Kwan on Saturday won her fourth consecutive U.S. women’s figure skating title and fifth of her career. Her technical superiority and grace enabled her to withstand the challenge of polished 15-year-old Sarah Hughes, just as she held off teen sensations Sasha Cohen last year and Naomi Nari Nam the year before.

“The last two nationals weren’t my best, that’s for sure,” Kwan said after her 4-minute performance to “Song of the Black Swan” by Hector Villa-Lobos earned two perfect 6.0s for presentation to add to the seven perfect scores she received for her short program Friday.

“This year I felt really strong and much more confident going into the competition. I can’t say I was dominant. Not at all. I just felt strong.”

Her routine wasn’t perfect. It was plaintive at times and assertive at others but overall, not nearly as stirring as her “East of Eden” program Friday. Nonetheless, it was the work of a smart and driven champion who has as many U.S. titles as Tenley Albright, Peggy Fleming and Janet Lynn.

“I can say it doesn’t get easier. It gets harder,” said Kwan, who will accompany Hughes and third-place finisher Angela Nikodinov of San Pedro to the world championships in Vancouver, Canada, in March.

“It’s difficult making a mistake early on. I wanted to put myself back together, with so many jumps to go. I thought, ‘I’ve done this so many times in practice. Don’t let the moment go.’

“Five-time champion . . . I still can’t believe it.”

Believe it. Her coach, Frank Carroll, does. For him, it evoked memories of his own coach, Maribel Vinson, who won a record nine U.S. women’s titles in the 1920s and ‘30s. Vinson was killed in the 1961 plane crash that wiped out the U.S. figure skating team en route to the world championships in Prague.

“She’d be very proud,” said Carroll, who coaches men’s champion Timothy Goebel and became the first coach to guide the men’s and women’s champions in the same year since Richard Callaghan coached Todd Eldredge and Tara Lipinski in 1997.

“I was very proud of Michelle tonight because after a mistake, it’s so easy to let it go and let it become a disaster. If you’re well trained, you pull it back together, but it takes a lot of determination to do that. We are disappointed she didn’t do the triple-triple, but I’m proud she was able to pull off a good performance.”

After reducing the difficulty of her first combination, she eked out a triple lutz-double toe combination that took her perilously close to the end boards and the ever-vigilant Carroll. “I blew him a kiss,” Kwan said, pantomiming a big smooch.

At least she didn’t kiss off the program. She pulled off her other moves with panache and threw in the triple toe loop to enhance her technical difficulty in the waning minutes.

“She could have blown it sky high,” Carroll said. “She was very tough out there.”

Hughes, of Great Neck, N.Y., was again in the unenviable position of skating after Kwan had received 6.0s, as had happened Friday. She bobbled the landing of her triple salchow-triple loop in a program performed to “Don Quixote” and lacked the knockout vibrancy she needed to have any hope of defeating Kwan.

“There’s very good and there’s great. I think my program tonight was very good,” Hughes said. “I wasn’t nervous going in. I felt strong and like I could do a very good program. The crowd was behind me tonight. To have a standing ovation makes me feel so proud . . .

“I think I’m in a good position going into worlds and the Olympic season. In my first nationals [1999] I was fourth. Then I was third the next year and second this year. There’s only one place to go up.”

Nikodinov’s third-place finish matched her best, in 1999. She skated a lyrical program to “Don Quixote” but stepped out of a combination jump and got two 5.6s among her technical marks. Her presentation scores were 5.7s and 5.8s, with two 5.9s mixed in.

“It meant a lot to me to put two good performances together,” she said. “I just wanted to skate cleanly.”

Four of the top six finishers are from Southern California: Jennifer Kirk of the Skating Club of Boston was fourth, but Amber Corwin of Harbor City was fifth and 12-year-old Beatrisa Liang, a seventh-grader at Faith Baptist School in Canoga Park, was an eye-opening sixth in her first senior national competition.

Kwan, too, was sixth at her first senior U.S. meet, in 1993. “Just looking at her brings back memories,” Kwan said. “I ran into her yesterday and thought, ‘Oh my God, she’s so fragile.’ She does all those triples and has great potential. Next year she could be a real contender.”

Said Liang, who trains in Simi Valley with 1985 champion Tiffany Chin: “I was a little nervous. This was my first time on TV. It’s really exciting.”

In a competition that was strong at the top, that bodes well for the future. “I just think the girls are terrific in our country,” Carroll said. “They all put it on the line. They should be very proud. They showed outstanding style, class and athleticism.”

*

GOEBEL’S GOOD ENOUGH

Timothy Goebel emerged as U.S. champion in a below-par men’s competition. D5