U S Figure Skating Championships

So much for the long-distance rivalry between the men who had won the last five national titles, Evan Lysacek, who trains on the West Coast, and Johnny Weir, who trains on the East. Suddenly it has turned into a local battle between Jeremy Abbott and Brandon Mroz, who train in the same Colorado Springs rink under the same coach, Tom Zakrajsek. Abbott and Mroz finished 1-2 in Sunday's U.S. Figure Skating Championships, putting each on the senior world team for the first time.

ST. PAUL, Minn. -- Someone told Mirai Nagasu that she was nearly 13 points ahead of the defending champion, Kimmie Meissner, after Nagasu finished Thursday's short program at the U.S. Figure Skating Championships. "Wow," Nagasu said, "that's exciting." That was how 1992 Olympic champion Kristi Yamaguchi felt about Nagasu after watching the Arcadia High freshman give one of the most brilliant senior-level debut per- formances at the national meet. "Wow, wow, wow," Yamaguchi said.

Until this week, the highlight of Katy Taylor's season was getting through a program without a fall. That happened only once in the four programs Taylor skated at her two Grand Prix events last fall. Rarely has a good skater performed so poorly and looked so pathetic on the ice as Taylor did in finishing 11th of 11 at Skate America and 12th of 12 at Skate Canada. "That was my evil twin," Taylor said.

This is Kimmie Meissner's week to read the morning announcements at Fallston High in suburban Baltimore. It will be the end of the school week before she takes the microphone, what with filming a TV commercial Tuesday in New York and staying there to do the "Today" show on Wednesday. Although she isn't exactly sure what she will be saying because a teacher writes the announcements, Meissner, a senior, already has some idea of what it will sound like.

Michelle Kwan withdrew from the U.S. figure skating championships because of a pulled groin muscle, her second major injury this season, and will petition U.S. Figure Skating's International Committee for a spot on the Turin Olympic team and a chance to win the gold medal that has twice eluded her. The nine-time U.S. champion and five-time world champion, a Manhattan Beach resident, said Wednesday she pulled the muscle Dec. 17 and was told not to jump or spin before Jan. 13.

The primary obstacle between Sasha Cohen and her first U.S. figure skating title vanished last week when nine-time champion Michelle Kwan withdrew because of a groin pull. But Cohen has hit an unexpected hurdle: flu. Cohen, of Corona del Mar, was off the ice for three days and performed only pieces of her short program Tuesday during the first official practice at the Savvis Center before the women's competition begins Thursday.

Bebe Liang of Granada Hills added a dash of drama to the women's competition at the U.S. Figure Skating Championships with a short program that showcased her power and dizzying spins. Johnny Weir added a dash of controversy to the men's event by being himself. Liang ranked a strong third behind favorite Sasha Cohen of Corona del Mar and Emily Hughes of Great Neck, N.Y., shaking up the scramble for the three women's spots at the Turin Olympics. Cohen, a four-time U.S. runner-up, earned 65.

Despite the occasional appearance of a sequined lad tumbling across the ice as if falling off a bar stool, there are no drunk skaters here. Advantage, ski team. Unless gobs of gel count, there are also no competitors here being busted for using anabolic hair replenishment drugs. Advantage, skeleton team. The U.S.

The weight of the gold medal around her neck didn't push Tanith Belbin over the edge Friday night. The weight of the moment did. That she and partner Ben Agosto would win the U.S. ice dance title was as certain as anything could be at the national championships, which are always stressful but this year are also the key factor in determining the Turin Olympic team. But until she got that medal on a red-white-and blue ribbon, 13 days after she gained U.S.

Leave it to the L.A. guy, the one with the blond hair and bare chest, to celebrate skating history as if it were beach volleyball. Shortly after John Baldwin threw and twirled Rena Inoue from here to Turin, he shouted and pumped his fist at her. Then he made out with her. At center ice. "C'mon, I've kissed her before," Baldwin said. "But never, ever on the lips in public," his father, John Sr., said.