Cohen promises dramatic windup

The O.C. teen has seen her stature rise and can win a
berth in the Olympics today.

January 12, 2002

Los Angeles -- The latest in the never-ending series of
debates between Sasha Cohen and John Nicks revolves
around how Cohen should end her long program at the U.S.
Figure Skating Championships tonight. Cohen, the bold
Orange County teen-ager on the verge of earning an
Olympic berth, will skate to music from the classic
opera "Carmen." In Bizet's opera, Carmen, the rebellious
Spanish peasant girl, dies in the end. Nicks, Cohen's
world-renowned coach, doesn't want to follow the script.
"People don't want to see a 17-year-old girl die on the
ice," Nicks said.  So they argue. On the eve of the
biggest of the biggest days in Alexandra Pauline Cohen's
young life, only this much was certain: "It will be very
dramatic," Cohen said with a telling smile Friday night.
American figure skating this week has learned to expect
nothing less from the Laguna Niguel resident. Cohen said
she would "like to cause a little riot in skating," and
she has put herself in position to do just that tonight
at Staples Center. Cohen goes into the long program
trailing only Olympic co-favorite Michelle Kwan and
leading two of the top five skaters in the world last
year - Sarah Hughes and Angela Nikodinov.  Cohen, not
long ago written off by some in the sport after missing
the 2001 U.S. Championships with a serious back injury,
this week has gone from a skater fighting for a spot on
the team to convincing many in the sport she is ready to
dethrone four-time world champion Kwan. "Sasha has gone
from struggling for third place to little higher
expectations," Nicks said, fully aware of his
understatement. Those expectations were silenced
Thursday afternoon after Cohen more than held her own in
one of the greatest series of women's short programs in
American skating history with a vibrant and powerful
performance to finish just behind Kwan. Cohen has faced
similar expectations before. She swept the sport off its
feet at the 2000 U.S. Championships. She led Kwan after
the short program and came within seconds of pulling off
the upset only to fall on her final triple jump in the
long program. "I have no doubt she's going to be the
finest skater in the world," said Nicks, a nine-time
U.S. Olympic team coach and a man not given to
overstatement. "My doubts are when she's going to do
it." Cohen has no doubts that time is now. "I'm
excited," she said. "This is something I've been working
so hard for. I'm also getting a little nervous but I'm
ready. Once I'm on the ice I'm fine, I'm ready for the
challenge. That's what I like." And it will be a
challenge.  Kwan, seeking to become the first woman
since the 1940s to win six U.S. titles, has lost only
once to another American woman since the 1998 Olympic
Games. Kwan is also coming off her strongest performance
of an uneven season and will be skating in front of an
adoring hometown crowd. Hughes, 16, the 2001 World
Championships bronze medalist from Long Island, N.Y.,
defeated Kwan earlier this season and in recent months
has been the most consistent skater in the field. But
Hughes and her coach, Robin Wagner, appeared at least a
little unnerved by the knowledge that she skated perhaps
the best short program of her career Thursday at it was
still not enough top Kwan and Cohen. "I don't think I
could have skated any better than that," Hughes said.
Hughes can also take little comfort in the fact
Nikodinov, fifth at last year's World Championships, is
close behind in fourth. Nikodinov, 21, will be the
sentimental favorite. She lost her coach and mentor,
Elena Tcherkasskaia, to cancer last fall and turned to
Frank Carroll, the respected coach who was fired by Kwan
in October after a decade together. But Nikodinov has a
well-documented history of struggling in the long
program, so frequently running into problems two minutes
into her routine that some longtime international
skating experts claim they can set their watch to it.
Cohen at times has also wavered over the long haul of
the four-minute program. However, she also is attempting
a significantly more demanding program than others,
tackling a triple lutz/triple toe combination, and she
will attack it with a flair unmatched perhaps even by
Kwan.  After Thursday, few this week would disagree with
Nicks when he said Friday that if Cohen and Kwan skate
their best, Cohen will win. Nicks would be happy with a
ticket to Salt Lake City. "Two good jumps will put her
on the Olympic team," he said. It is clear Cohen has
much bigger plans for "Carmen." "I'm going to attack
every single element," she said.