The U.S. women’s figure skaters might just give American fans something to get excited about in the 2006 Winter Games.
Though many U.S. Olympians have been underachieving at these Games, the three figure skaters are first, fifth and seventh after the women’s short program.
There is still Thursday’s free skate program to go, but Sasha Cohen, Kimmie Meissner and Emily Hughes skated wonderfully tonight in Turin.
Meissner, only 16, was the second skater of the night and put up a score of 59.40, which led the competition until Russian power Irina Slutskaya overtook her 17 skaters later. She ended up fifth at the end of the night.
“I was really excited out there and it felt awesome,” Meissner said. “When I went out there the crowd went wild, so that was good. I was kind of a little stumbly in my footwork, but I think I was just kind of excited. I think I was definitely more excited than nervous, so it felt really, really good.”
Hughes, a last-minute replacement for the injured Michelle Kwan, also skated a strong program as her sister, 2002 figure skating gold medalist Sarah Hughes, watched from the stands. Hughes is in seventh place with a score of 57.08.
“Watching her in Salt Lake was so great,” the younger sister said, “I watched her work so hard, and to see a dream come true was just great. Now that I’m actually on the ice, and she’s up in the stands, I know how she feels, and I guess she knows how I feel.”
It was Cohen who electrified the arena. The final skater of the night, Cohen was fearless and almost flawless. Her score of 66.73 just nudged Slutskaya’s 66.70 from the top spot.
“I’ve trained my whole life for this and to keep it together and skate well – it’s wonderful,” Cohen said. “I felt good out there. A bit nervous, but determined and positive.”
