Kwan Wins 9th U.S. Title

The link was invisible but strong, connecting Maribel Vinson Owen to Michelle Kwan to Kimmie Meissner, uniting the dim past with the glorious present and offering a tantalizing peek at the future.

Kwan kept her date with destiny Saturday at the Rose Garden by winning her record-tying ninth U.S. women’s figure skating title, matching Vinson Owen’s accomplishments of the 1920s and 1930s with a performance as alluring as her form-fitting golden dress. But Meissner, a stick-figured 15-year-old from Bel Air, Md., whose brilliant smile was all the makeup she needed, made history, too.

Meissner became the first U.S. woman to land a triple axel jump in competition since Tonya Harding in 1991 and the sixth ever, helping her steal two second-place votes from a shaky Sasha Cohen and leapfrog Jenny Kirk into third place. Meissner is too young to compete at the world championships at Moscow in March and relinquished that honor to Kirk, but she will turn 16 in time to be eligible for the 2006 Turin Olympics, adding intrigue to the upcoming year.

Saturday night, however, belonged to Kwan, who broke one tie with Vinson Owen by claiming her record 12th consecutive medal at the U.S. championships. For the Torrance native, that stirred memories of being a little girl with big dreams, as Meissner was on Saturday.

“It’s incredible. Nine. It’s like, oh, wow,” Kwan said after her five-triple performance to “Bolero” brought her four perfect 6.0s for presentation, likely the last awarded at the U.S. championships before the advent of a new scoring system, and seven for the competition. “I just remember trying to win my first one. I got a diamond pin.

“To get my ninth title I never thought it would be possible.

“Nine incredible national championships. Every one is different and unique.”

The triple axel is particularly difficult because it requires 3 1/2 revolutions. The first woman to land it in competition was Midori Ito of Japan, in the 1989 world championships. In addition to Harding, it has been landed by Yukari Nakano and Mao Asada of Japan and Ludmilia Nelidina of Russia.

“It’s amazing for skating, because you see all the triple-triples but not a lot of triple axels for American skaters,” Kwan said.

Meissner, whose scores included a 5.9 for technical merit and went from 5.4 to 5.7 for presentation, mastered the jump only last week. “It’s really cool. It feels so awesome,” said Meissner, who tenaciously held the landing of the jump during her performance to “Daphnis and Chloe.”

“I just want to do it again.”

Cohen, of Laguna Niguel, encountered the same wobbles that have previously left her looking up at Kwan. She touched her hand down on a triple loop and fell on a triple lutz, getting technical marks of 5.6 and 5.7. Her presentation scores were 5.8s and 5.9s, but the outcome wasn’t what she envisioned when she moved cross-country again in November to work with coach John Nicks.

“It’s not in my overall plan not to skate perfectly,” she said, “so I’ll get back to you on that.”

She’s also going to get back to Nicks on whether their collaboration will continue. Nicks said he hoped to hear from the Cohen family “in their interest and mine, soon.”

He said he enjoys their relationship and believes she can make that final leap past Kwan.

“I hope we’ll know that at some point soon,” Nicks said. “She has the ability and I’m sure there will come a time when she will do that.”

That time hasn’t arrived yet.

Beatrisa Liang of Granada Hills, 16, finished fifth and is the first alternate to the world team. Fifteen-year-old Emily Hughes, sister of 2002 Olympic gold medalist Sarah Hughes, climbed from ninth to sixth with a charming free skate. Angela Nikodinov of San Pedro, whose mother, Dolores, died in a van accident in Portland on Wednesday, held a news conference to express thanks for the support she has received.

Pale but composed, her right arm in a sling and fingers bandaged, she read a statement in which she said she looked forward to performing again but requested “some private time for my family and I.”

She added, “I decided to come to the arena today to be there for my friends who have supported me through all of this. I would just like to be there and do the same for them.”

Her coach, Igor Pashkevich, remains in a Portland hospital because of head and neck injuries.