Short Program

At age 81, in his 49th year of coaching, it figured John Nicks would say he isn't surprised by much. So Nicks initially said he was disappointed rather than surprised in how badly his athletes, Keauna McLaughlin and Rockne Brubaker, had skated Friday afternoon in the U.S. Figure Skating Championships at Spokane Arena. A few minutes later, Nicks changed his mind. "These last three or so days here, they have practiced as well as any pair I have taught," Nicks said. "I was surprised."

Fans were few and falls were many Sunday at Skate America, but ultimately U.S. champion Alissa Czisny held on to win the women's title and defending world champions Aliona Savchenko and Robin Szolkowy of Germany came from behind to win the pairs title at Citizens Business Bank Arena in Ontario. Czisny, 24, uncharacteristically fell early in her free skate and looked surprised when she scrambled to her feet after landing her triple flip on her side instead of on her feet. She also had an unsteady finish to a triple loop and doubled another of her seven planned triple jumps, enough mistakes to have her holding her breath while waiting for the final scores.

Alissa Czisny had a cast on her hand when she skated in the U.S. Figure Skating Championships a year ago. When the event ended, Czisny needed protection not only for a broken thumb but for a shattered spirit. The young woman whose surpassing elegance always was undone by substantial errors wondered how she could recapture the desire to keep going. She had been third at the 2007 nationals, then ninth in 2008.

Michal Brezina, a 21-year-old from the Czech Republic, added by subtraction Friday night at Skate America and put himself into first place after the men's short program. Skating as the ninth of 10 skaters, Brezina, who finished fourth at last year's world championships, downgraded a planned quadruple toe loop-triple toe loop combination into a triple flip-triple toe loop and did it with high-flying verve. His decision paid off. Brezina's score of 79.08 gave him nearly a 10-point lead and first place over defending world silver medalist Takahiko Kozuka of Japan, who fell hard and early on his attempted quadruple toe loop-triple toe loop in the competition at Citizens Business Bank Arena in Ontario.

She is considered the biggest star in South Korea, a young woman who sings surprisingly well and skates remarkably well. "Of course, skating is harder," Kim Yu-Na said with a laugh. It didn't appear that way Friday afternoon, when Kim's seemingly effortless brilliance in the World Championships short program left two of the greatest athletes in the sport's history awe-struck after their first in-person view of her. "I'm completely impressed," said 1992 Olympic champion Kristi Yamaguchi.

Michal Brezina, a 21-year-old from the Czech Republic, added by subtraction Friday night at Skate America and put himself into first place after the men's short program. Skating as the ninth of 10 skaters, Brezina, who finished fourth at last year's world championships, downgraded a planned quadruple toe loop-triple toe loop combination into a triple flip-triple toe loop and did it with high-flying verve. His decision paid off. Brezina's score of 79.08 gave him nearly a 10-point lead and first place over defending world silver medalist Takahiko Kozuka of Japan, who fell hard and early on his attempted quadruple toe loop-triple toe loop in the competition at Citizens Business Bank Arena in Ontario.

Skaters in tonight's women's figure skating short program are required to perform eight elements in any sequence. The score from the short program will be added to Thursday's free skate score to determine gold. A look at the required short program elements.

After viewing Katarina Witt's short program and her even shorter costume, I can state indeed that brevity is the soul of Witt. DAVID DYKSTRA Santa Monica

It was one of those reminders why this sport can be so extraordinary, when a skater fuses art and athleticism with consummate ease into a performance that transports an audience to a state of stunned admiration. Skimming across the ice with feathery grace, floating through her powerful jumps, echoing in her movements the unadorned eloquence of the Chopin nocturne to which she was skating, Japan's Mao Asada looked extraordinary to everyone but her coach.

Maria Butyrskaya won the short program in the European Figure Skating Championships at Lausanne, Switzerland, skating with ease Friday while the other top Russian and Olympic gold hopeful made another surprising fall. Butyrskaya's clean routine gives her the edge in confidence going into the Feb. 8-24 Salt Lake City Games, where she and teammate Irina Slutskaya are U.S. champion Michelle Kwan's main rivals for the gold.

What: Skate America. Where: Citizens Business Bank Arena, Ontario. When: Men's short program, ice dancing short program, 7 p.m. Friday; men's free program, ice dance free program, 11:45 a.m. Saturday; pairs short program, ladies' short program, 7 p.m. Saturday; pairs free, ladies' free program, 1 p.m. Sunday; skating spectacular (top four finishers in each discipline), 7 p.m., Sunday. Tickets: $15-$40 per session, available through Ticketmaster. Television: Free dance, men's free, noon-3 p.m. Saturday, NBC; pairs, ladies' short programs, 10:30 a.m.-1:30 p.m. Sunday, Universal Sports; ladies' and pairs free programs, 1:30-4:30 p.m. Sunday, Universal Sports; free dance, men's free program (delay)

Four of the top five most-viewed women's sporting events happened at the Olympics, and the other one is the 1999 Women's World Cup final at the Rose Bowl. What this tells us, said Daniel Szew, who is president of LA Sports Management and before that worked for the Wasserman Group and AEG, is that many viewers of women's sports get invested in a big event in which they get a chance to be patriotic. "I was born in Argentina and moved to the U.S. when I was 5," he said. "My feelings about this are born of my background.

One Olympic singles champion, Robin Cousins, says Kim Yuna has the "it factor." Another, Scott Hamilton, calls her a gift to the sport "from some other place." A rival's coach, Frank Carroll, marvels at her speed. One of the sport's legendary skaters, Michelle Kwan, says Kim is "what the judges are looking for, when it comes to jump quality, spin quality and edges." All agree there is no way Kim will lose the Olympic gold medal in Thursday night's long program if the 19-year-old South Korean skates the way she did in winning Tuesday's short program.

"I always encouraged her to have confidence in herself, to believe in her dreams." The memory of the mother's words gave powerful warmth through the chill of the Pacific Coliseum on Tuesday night, connecting hands, filling eyes, lifting her child. "The hurdles she faces motivate her to rise above them, Joannie has always been naturally determined and persevering." On Sunday morning here, Therese Rochette, who spoke those words, died suddenly of a heart attack.

All times Pacific NBC 3-5 p.m. Women's freestyle skiing, ski-cross competition Nordic combined, team competition: K-125 jumping Men's speedskating, 10,000 gold-medal final 8 p.m.-midnight Women's figure skating, short program Men's Alpine skiing, giant slalom gold-medal final Women's freestyle skiing, ski-cross gold-medal final Nordic combined, team gold-medal final: K-125 jumping...

Less than two months before the 2006 Olympics, Mao Asada of Japan became the first woman to land two triple-axel jumps in the same program. And Asada wasn't a two-trick pony then. She was, at age 15, the best women's figure skater in the world, winner of the 2006 Grand Prix Final, the one about whom everyone said: "Mao -- Wow!" But she had to watch the last Olympics on television. Asada had the bad luck of having been born 87 days too late to meet the International Skating Union's minimum age requirement - 15 years old by July 1 of the preceding year -- for the Winter Olympics.

Tisha Walker of the Conejo Valley Figure Skating Club moved into fourth place in the women's senior division of the Pacific Coast championships Friday night at the San Diego Ice Arena. Walker was eighth going into Friday's short program, in which she fell on her opening jump. But the 16-year-old's marks for presentation were enough to move her into fourth, behind Holly Cook of Utah and Jeri Campbell and Karen Terry, both of Los Angeles. Walker is two-tenths of a point out of third place.

Danielle Kahle has made a habit of scaling a hill near her home in Thousand Oaks nearly every day for conditioning purposes. "It's a mile up and a mile down," Kahle said. For exercise Sunday, the 12-year-old climbed to the top of the heap after the short program in the novice women's competition in the 2002 State Farm U.S. Figure Skating Championships at the Sports Arena. Going into today's free skate, Kahle has an edge over second-place Lisa Dannemiller of Ann Arbor, Mich.

Evan Lysacek's coach, Frank Carroll, had one major hope for his skater going into Thursday's Olympic free skate final. "I want him to grab this opportunity and make it something special," Carroll said, "because so few skaters have this chance." Lysacek did all that and more at the Pacific Coliseum. Shaking off the suffocating pressure of the moment -- which actually lasted four minutes, 30 seconds -- Lysacek delivered a brilliant, career-best performance to become the first U.S. man to win the Olympic skating gold medal since Brian Boitano in 1988.

It is customary to watch figure-skating practices for omens, even though the exercise serves mainly to see if one skater runs into another or suffers a non-contact injury. Skaters who practice well often fall apart in competition, and vice-versa, as was the case with Japan's Daisuke Takahashi, who struggled for days before delivering a lights-out performance in Tuesday's Olympic men's short program. Takahashi also went feet-first into the boards after slipping on a footwork sequence during practice Wednesday, but that fall, which left him laughing, will have no impact on Thursday's free skate.