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U.S. Women Facing Big Challenge

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By BARRY WILNER

The Associated Press

Published: March 22, 2009

Imagine having just two U.S. women in figure skating at the Winter Olympics.

That would have meant no Sarah Hughes in Salt Lake City. And no Olympic gold for Hughes in 2002.

Yes, three spots for American women at the Olympics is a given. In the modern era, only in 1994 did the United States have fewer than the maximum spots at the Games.

So when the most important World Figure Skating Championships in the four-year Olympic cycle begin Tuesday at the Staples Center in Los Angeles, the American women's quest to secure three berths for Vancouver will feature a pair of unproven skaters on the international scene, Alissa Czisny and Rachael Flatt. Their challenge is daunting.

These worlds will determine how many spots each country gets in the Vancouver field in February. There is no Michelle Kwan or Sasha Cohen to carry Old Glory, leading some to believe the Americans might be hard-pressed to earn three places in the Winter Games.

"It is very important we do try to get three spots at the Olympics," the 16-year-old Flatt said. "I definitely think it's a very realistic goal, but I'm not focusing on that, just focusing on trying to skate my best at worlds - especially since it's my first worlds. I want to make a really strong debut.

"I think it will be in the back of my mind, to help get three spots for the Olympics, but definitely it's not going to be my strongest focus."

A strong debut probably will be needed by Flatt, the 2008 junior world champion who is ranked 10th in the world, coupled with a good showing by Czisny (16th), who has been around since 2003 but rarely reached the heights she managed at the national championships in January. The 21-year-old Czisny won nationals despite finishing third in the free skate. Then she bombed at Four Continents a few weeks later, finishing ninth, two spots behind Flatt.

That was in a field minus any Europeans.

No American women made the Grand Prix final this season. And in her one appearance at worlds, in 2007, Czisny was 15th.

Can these two post finishes with a combined placement of 13 (fifth and eighth, for example) or better to keep the three spots for the U.S. in Vancouver? Going simply by their world rankings - which is kind of unfair because it doesn't fully account for how they're performing leading into worlds or their state of health - they shouldn't come close.

Cohen, 24, meanwhile, is considering trying to make the Olympic team and will decide in June whether to come back.

"The Olympics are so amazing - the heart and the spirit - and you remember the great days and the terrible days, and the complete feeling of being alive, and you miss that," Cohen says, her voice rising to a crescendo as she recalls the Salt Lake City and Turin Games. "With watching the Summer Games, I said, 'I really want to do this, I think I want to do this.' I started pushing myself and getting back into the training mentality and taking small steps, knowing I have quite a ways to go."

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