When Sasha Cohen finished second at the U.S. Figure Skating Championships last month, she was left in a difficult position.
Because she was not 15 before last July 1, Cohen needs to win a medal at this week’s world junior championships in Germany to get through a loophole in the age restrictions for the senior world championships beginning March 26 in France.
Nevertheless, Cohen spoke confidently at the national meet about the possibility of remaining in Europe between the world competitions rather than returning to her home in Laguna Niguel, Calif.
Those plans changed in the weeks between nationals and junior worlds, for family reasons. So did Cohen’s attitude. “I’m focused only on junior worlds,” she said.
So are Deanna Stellato of Glenview and Jennifer Kirk of Newton, Mass., each of whom will finish her season at junior worlds.
Stellato, ninth at the U.S. nationals, and Kirk, who was seventh, each won her qualifying-round group at the junior world meet Wednesday. Cohen, who fell on a triple loop and struggled with two other jumps, was second to Stellato.
“It’s just the warmup for what’s really going to happen,” Stellato said.
The qualifying counts 20 percent. The short program (30 percent) is Friday, and the free skate final (50 percent) is Saturday.
It would be an unexpected twist if Cohen were kept from the senior worlds by her teammates.
“I have to get more consistent,” Cohen said.
If Cohen does not win a medal, her place at the senior worlds will go to Angela Nikodinov, four at nationals. U.S. champion Michelle Kwan and third-place finisher Sarah Hughes have earned the other two spots.
Rush to glory: As the surprising star at nationals, where she won the short program and dazzled the crowd with her balletic flexibility, Cohen moved onto the fast track.
She immediately ran into the minimum-age rules, designed to protect young skaters from extra pressure. Instead, those rules and a change in the timing of the junior world meet have put more pressure on Cohen.
In voting for age minimums four years ago, International Skating Union officials failed to consider their impact on a recent surge of child prodigies in the U.S.: Tara Lipinski, Olympic champion at 15; Kwan, 15 when she won her first world title; Hughes, 13 when she placed seventh in senior worlds a year ago; and Naomi Nari Nam, 13 as runner-up at the 1999 nationals. All did well enough at nationals to make senior world meet teams by age 13.
Last season the junior world meet was 2 1/2 months before the U.S. nationals. Hughes, fourth at nationals, got Nam’s spot on the senior world team because she had been second at junior worlds. Nam had been too young to compete even at junior worlds.
Moving the junior world meet to March meant a hectic schedule for Cohen. She spent 2 1/2 weeks at home between returning from nationals and leaving for Germany. If she wins a medal, Cohen would return to California for just 10 days before leaving for senior worlds. That could mean 42 time zones and three demanding competitions in eight weeks–quite a load for an 80-pound kid still 7 1/2 months shy of 16.
“I took a couple of days off after nationals before getting back to it slowly,” Cohen said before leaving for Germany. “It was tough with new junior programs and having taken time off. Now I’m on top of everything.”
Fame game: Cohen said she has learned from the travails of Nam, who trains with the same coach, John Nicks. After her dazzling performance at the 1999 nationals, Nam became a major celebrity in her parents’ native South Korea and had a much better 1999-2000 season off the ice than on it. She fell to eighth at this year’s nationals.
“I learned a lot from watching what she has experienced,” Cohen said. “I am going to stay focused on my training and not get unfocused doing a lot of other things.”
She already has exchanged school for tutoring, although Cohen spends one day a week meeting her tutors on a school campus.
That a 3-minute-30-second junior free skate program is 30 seconds shorter than a senior program is no relief. Cohen intends to cram the same number of triple jumps (seven) into the shorter program.
Globetrotting: Daron Rahlves’ back-to-back downhill victories last weekend, the first World Cup wins by a U.S. male skier in five years, get an asterisk because both races were shortened by high winds. Rahlves’ performance at next week’s World Cup final in Italy will be a better measure of his stature. . . . After a poor start, speedskater Chris Witty of Milwaukee finished the season strong, with a bronze medal (1,000 meters) at the World Single Event Championships and a second place in the World Sprint Championships following a first and second in her final World Cup 1000s.
