2005 U.S. Figure Skating Championships

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The Portland Tribune, Dec 31, 2004, Updated Oct 30, 2009

As the skaters twirl in the 2005 State Farm U.S. Figure Skating Championships, Jan. 9 through Jan. 16 at the Rose Garden and Memorial Coliseum, what subplots unfold here?

• The queen: It’s hard not to fawn over Michelle Kwan, a five-time world champion, eight-time U.S. champ Ñ seven in a row Ñ and two-time disheartened Olympian. Kwan, ancient at 24, has been on the world scene for 11 years, since being the alternate U.S. skater behind combatants Tonya Harding and Nancy Kerrigan in the 1994 Winter Olympics.

Graceful, enduring and resilient, Kwan has many followers who would like to see her try the 2006 Olympics in Italy. Kwan, who trains in Southern California, remains noncommittal, but is leaning toward it. She has been relatively inactive since 2002, skipping the International Skating Union Grand Prix series for the third season in a row. Last year, she finished third at the Worlds behind Japan’s Shizuka Arakawa and American Sasha Cohen, her worst finish since 1995. Her jumps need to get better to keep up with the youngsters, she says. Cohen remains her primary competition.

• The king: For the past year, upstart Johnny Weir has reigned. Weir, 20 and training in Delaware, unseated three-time U.S. champ Michael Weiss last year Ñ but fell to fifth at the World Championships. He has had a great season, despite battling a right-foot injury, and being fatigued and underweight after an intense tour of France, Japan and Russia. The foot injury has prevented him from doing the quadruple toe loop.

• Judging: The barred French judge and federation president who skewed scores in the 2002 Olympics won’t be around, and neither will the sport’s new computer-oriented scoring system. Traditional scoring, based on the 6.0 scale, will be used here; Kwan gets her first experience with the new scoring system at the World Championships in Moscow in March.

• On TV: Championship broadcasts will be on ESPN2, 8 p.m.-10 p.m. Jan. 13 and 7:30 p.m.-9:30 p.m. Jan. 14, and on ABC, 1 p.m.-3 p.m. and 5 p.m.-8 p.m. Jan. 15. The Chevy Skating Spectacular, a Portland exhibition, will be on ABC 10:30 a.m.-noon Jan. 23.

Ñ Jason Vondersmith

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