Kwan’s Stunning Move Is the Buzz

There was little at Michelle Kwan’s practice Wednesday that reflected how dramatically she had jolted the figure skating world.

In her first official practice session for Skate America, which tonight kicks off the six-event Grand Prix series, Kwan did a run-through of her “Scheherezade” long program and was applauded by the devotees who hungrily followed her every move at the World Arena. As she skated off the ice, she politely signed autographs for a group of squealing, giggling fans.

The only sign her routine had changed was the absence of Frank Carroll, her longtime coach. She announced Tuesday she had parted company with Carroll, a stunning move barely three months before the Salt Lake City Olympics. And although she appeared at peace with her decision to go it alone for now, observers have not yet comprehended it.

“It was surprising and shocking,” said John Nicks, who coaches Sasha Cohen and has known Carroll for decades. “It was such a wonderful and successful and mutually beneficial partnership for so many years.

“On the other side of the coin, it disturbs me that championship skaters can do without coaches. It makes my future in doubt.”

Can Kwan win the gold medal that eluded her at Nagano in 1998 without a coach at her side?

“We’ll see,” Nicks said. “She’s a wonderful, experienced skater and Michelle always rises to the occasion. We’ve seen that many times.”

Kwan’s performance here will spark endless debates. A good result after lackluster runner-up finishes at the Goodwill Games and the Masters will be seen as a validation of her wish to shrug off Carroll’s influence. If she falters again, she will fuel doubters who say she made a mistake that could deliver the Olympic gold medal to Russia’s Irina Slutskaya.

Her main rivals here will be Cohen, who will again try to become the first female skater to land a quadruple jump in competition, and Sarah Hughes, second at this year’s U.S. championships and third at the world meet. Russia’s Elena Sokolova and Viktoria Volchkova are the top foreign entrants.

“I hope she skates up a storm here,” Carroll said Wednesday. “I hope she does it, but I’m not going to watch. I could never be the kind of person to wish her badly.... Michelle is a great skater. No one wins four world championships without being superb. There’s no reason she can’t continue to be superb. She has that ability, she’s been taught well and she’s a strong young woman.”

Carroll said he’s still pained and puzzled by the breakup, wondering if she might have been wounded by his advice that she should be “spending more time doing the sport.” However, he said she never complained of being pushed, and he would have yielded to her if she had done so.

Kwan, 21, who didn’t talk to reporters Wednesday, is no longer the kid who took Carroll’s word as gospel when their collaboration began nearly 10 years ago. The confidence and independence he helped her build ultimately led her to leave him; Hughes’ coach, Robin Wagner, compared the coach-skater relationship to a child leaving her parents to test her wings and said her relationship with Hughes is evolving as the 16-year-old matures and has different needs.

But Hughes still looks to Wagner for a critical eye and stability. Kwan must find that elsewhere.

“Changing coaches or splitting with a coach is always a very difficult and emotional situation for both parties,” Wagner said, “and the timing of it is, I’m sure, making it harder....

“Everybody is in a different situation. If a relationship is not good between a student and coach, a piece of paper doesn’t bind the relationship. All coaches work very hard with their skaters. We give our hearts and souls and time, and that’s our job. Like any job, I suppose, you get fired.”

Morry Stillwell, a former president of the U.S. Figure Skating Assn., has known Kwan since she was 5 and skated at Culver City with her sister, Karen, under the eyes of their father, Danny. Stillwell won’t be surprised if Danny again becomes Michelle’s coach. “While it may be overall unusual, her father is not necessarily unknowledgeable about skating,” Stillwell said.

Carroll said Kwan needs someone to lean on, whether her father or another coach.

“I hope she won’t be by herself,” Carroll said. “At this point, I wouldn’t be surprised about anything. At this point I wouldn’t be surprised if she said she’s not going to Skate Canada or the Olympic Games or that her sister or mother will coach her.”

A spokesman for Kwan affirmed her intention to compete at Skate Canada next week and at the Olympics. But the road there has clearly taken a new turn.

*

The ice dance competition begins today with the compulsory dance, and the pairs start with the short program. Shae-Lynn Bourne and Victor Kraatz of Canada, fourth at the world meet, lead the ice dance field.

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Skate America

* When: Today-Sunday.

* Where: Colorado Springs, Colo.

* TV: Sunday, 2:30 p.m., Ch. 7.

* Top men: Timothy Goebel, Matt Savoie, Michael Weiss.

* Top women: Sasha Cohen, Sarah Hughes and Michelle Kwan.