Turin – Michelle Kwan is not feeling 100 percent and would not rule out withdrawing from the women’s figure skating competition, she said Saturday after a frustrating practice session.
However, the two-time Olympic medalist expects to compete when the women’s short program begins Feb. 21 despite a horrible practice. On her first day on Turin ice, Kwan skated only 25 minutes of her 40-minute session and failed to convert three triple flips. She two-footed one, fell on the second and went only two revolutions on the third.
At a news conference, Kwan couldn’t guarantee she would skate on the 21st and said dropping out is an option.
“I really have to pay attention to how I feel these days,” Kwan said. “It’s important that I’m in touch with that right now and be serious about it and how I’m skating and how I feel. Dropping out is not something I want to do, but I have to listen to what my feelings are.”
Kwan, 25, blamed part of the problem on spending four hours in the cold during Friday night’s opening ceremony, jet lag, not having her coach here yet and limited practice time before she left. The nine-time American champion and five-time world champ earned a spot on the team when U.S. Figure Skating accepted her petition for an Olympic spot after she missed the U.S. Championships on Jan. 14 with a groin injury.
A five-member monitoring committee guaranteed her spot after observing her short and long programs Jan. 27 and declaring her healthy. Since then, she has limited her workouts to ensure that her injury doesn’t return.
“What’s frustrating is, having an injury isn’t something that goes away and just vanishes,” said Kwan, who will practice twice today. “I woke up stiff and thought, ‘Is it coming back?’ This morning in practice it was difficult. It was new ice. My coach wasn’t there. I had no feedback.”
If Kwan can’t go, 17-year-old alternate Emily Hughes – who took third at nationals but was bumped by Kwan – would replace her. Hughes, the younger sister of 2002 gold medalist Sarah Hughes, remains in Great Neck, N.Y., and will not travel to Turin unless Kwan withdraws.
A personal best for U.S. pair
Rena Inoue and John Baldwin, the first pairs couple to land a throw triple axel when they won the national title last month, landed it again Saturday night as figure skating competition kicked off at the renovated Palavela.
The 3 1/2-revolution throw gave the Santa Monica, Calif., couple a personal-best 61.27 points to stand sixth heading into Monday’s long program. Tatiana Totmianina and Maxim Marinin, the two-time defending world champions, lead with 68.64.
“We wanted to leave here with no regrets,” Baldwin said. “How the judges judge it is up to them, but how we leave the ice is up to us.”
The couple had a rough week of practice, landing only 60 percent of the throws compared with 90 percent immediately after nationals. But their coach, Peter Oppegard, slowed down their technique, thinking overconfidence made them too aggressive. “What happens in practice is left in practice,” Baldwin said. “It doesn’t mean much.”
First-Olympics jitters?
The other American pair, Marcy Hinz- mann and Aaron Parchem of Bloomfield Hills, Mich., stood 13th out of 20 after Parchem fell on a triple toe loop. This is their first Olympics, with little chance for a medal.
“My hope coming here was I wouldn’t freak out knowing that it’s the Olympics,” Hinzmann said. “I just quietly told myself all day that even though this is just another performance, to enjoy it because this is possibly the only chance we’ll get to go to the Olympics and to remember it as a good thing and not a nerve-wracking thing.”
John Henderson can be reached at 303-820-1299 or jhenderson@denverpost.com.
