Practice Open, Shut for Skaters

The contrast couldn’t have been more stark.

Sasha Cohen worked out behind locked doors Thursday and then slipped out a side door without talking to reporters.

Kimmie Meissner followed with a loose and open practice, and then held a lighthearted news conference about sightseeing, homework and the triple axel.

“To have this happen is a pretty nice gift or reward for training all those days,” said Meissner, 16, of her Olympic opportunity. “It’s just been really neat.”

Cohen, 21, the U.S. figure-skating champion from Corona del Mar, and Meissner, the runner up from Bel Air, Md., set up camp in this ski resort town two hours outside Turin to reset their body clocks and get back to a regular practice routine.

No one got the opportunity to evaluate Cohen’s strategy. After her 45-minute practice, she went out one door as reporters were led through another. When a lagging reporter greeted Cohen, she responded with a tight-lipped “Hello.”

Meanwhile, the third member of the U.S. women’s team -- Emily Hughes -- arrived in Turin on Thursday. Hughes finished third at the U.S. championships last month but was bumped from the team when Michelle Kwan successfully petitioned for a medical waiver. When Kwan dropped out a few days ago, Hughes, 17, was reinstated.

The three women are expected to return to Turin over the weekend and practice on the Olympic ice Monday before Tuesday night’s short program. The long program is Thursday night.

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Candus Thomson is a sportswriter for the Baltimore Sun, a Tribune Publishing newspaper.