01/11/2002 - Updated 10:45 AM ET Kwan prevails, but Cohen stars in short program LOS ANGELES With a potential spot on the U.S. Olympic team sharpening their focus, the country's top women's figure skaters delivered picture-perfect performances Thursday in the State Farm U.S. Figure Skating Championships. Five-time national champion Michelle Kwan gave her first clean performance of the season to take the lead after the short program. Sasha Cohen, the U.S. silver medalist two years ago, is in second after leapfrogging last year's silver medalist, Sarah Hughes. "I've been leaving them all in practice," Kwan said of any mistake-free programs before in this Olympic season. "It's finally nice to have it come out and perform it." The women's long program is Saturday at the Staples Center. The top-three finishers qualify for the Salt Lake City Olympics next month. "Whoever makes it, the United States is going to have a wonderful Olympic team," said Cohen's coach, John Nicks. During a season in which bobbles, wobbles and falls had become all-too-frequent program elements for the women, Thursday came like a gust of fresh air clearing the Los Angeles smog. Hughes said (it's) "definitely the best short program I've done this year." Angela Nikodinov, behind Hughes in fourth, skated so well one judge had her first. Kwan won seven judges, while Cohen and Angela Nikodinov each got one. Sarah Hughes was a close third, and Nikodinov was fourth in the incredibly strong event. The free skate, worth two-thirds of the final score, is Saturday. The top three skaters make the Olympic team. "I think this was probably the most exciting group of short programs, even going back to the world championships," said Robin Wagner, Hughes' coach. "Everybody really skated with their hearts, and in this particular competition, when we're trying to get on the Olympic team, that's an extraordinary feat." This has been the toughest season of Kwan's career. She's struggled on the ice, and her decision in October to split with longtime coach Frank Carroll is still a topic of debate. So with the Olympics approaching, she's gone back to her 1998 short program to Rachmaninoff's Concerto No. 3. It brought chills to those watching then and earned her seven perfect 6.0s, but this version didn't have nearly the same emotion. She didn't make any mistakes, and done by anyone else it would have been a fantastic performance. But with five U.S. titles and four world crowns, Kwan has set the bar so high. "I've been practicing a lot and been practicing very well," she said. "If I had not been skating so well in practices, then you sort of have to cross your fingers. You're not sure what you will put out there." But her footwork was slower and not as sharp as in 1998. Instead, she looked as she did in her free skate at the Nagano Olympics clean, but cautious. It seemed more like work, not the pure joy she had in Philadelphia. Not until her spiral sequence did she truly come alive, and the fans responded. They began clapping as she glided across the ice, and were standing even before she completed her final spin. But the judges knew something was missing, too. While she earned all 5.7s and 5.8s for required elements, and all but two 5.9s for artistry, it wasn't Philadelphia. That kind of skate came from Cohen, who was a surprise second to Kwan at the 2000 nationals, but missed last year with a back injury. "It was really difficult because I wanted to be out there, but I knew I had to rest," Cohen said. "I knew I had quite a while, another year, and that I could do a lot of improvement in that time. We just tried to make use of every minute of every session." Wearing a simple white dress, Cohen looked like a swan with her innate grace and elegance. She can hold the most unusual positions, like her Charlotte spiral, where she bends down to touch one toe while her other leg is extended high. After her marks flashed, coach John Nicks grabbed Cohen's head and held it up, like a boxer after a knockout. "My young protegee, the beautiful Ms. Cohen, when she skates like this, everything is forgiven," Nicks said of his headstrong skater. But she has one more round to go. And Hughes and Nikodinov aren't out of it. Skating to Ave Maria, Hughes was almost ethereal. Wagner was so moved she was crying as the program finished. "I was trying to stay really cool, but it was so nice to see," Wagner said. "It was so beautiful and she looked so gentle but so sure of herself on the ice." But Hughes changes the edge on the takeoff of her triple lutz, turning it into a flip a "flutz." It showed in the marks for required elements, which ranged from 5.5 to 5.8. "That would be my thought, but until I speak to the judges, I'm not sure," Wagner said. "I thought everything else was very strong." Her artistic marks were higher, but not enough to put her ahead of Kwan and Cohen. The audience booed, but Hughes just shrugged her shoulders. "I couldn't have done any better," she said. "My focus is just entirely on the free skate. Tonight is worth one-third, but Saturday night really is worth 100%." Nikodinov is skating with a broken heart after the sudden death of her coach and mentor, Elena Tcherkasskaia. Nikodinov was once a talented, but undisciplined skater, and Tcherkasskaia found a way to unlock her enormous potential. "Everything takes time and you can't expect one day to wake up and expect everything to be fine," Nikodinov said. "I just have to be strong. I know she's looking down on me and is proud of me." And though Tcherkasskaia is gone, her influence clearly remains. Nikodinov's only real problem was an awkward landing on her triple flip. The crowd roared when she finished her program, giving her an even longer ovation than Kwan. As she left the ice, Nikodinov turned back to the crowd once more, waving and putting her hand on her chest as if to say, "Thank you." "I felt a lot of support," she said. "It's been a long season, and I will just look forward."