LOS ANGELES — For the second time since 1924 — seemingly about the time ice was invented — the U.S. will send only two women figure skaters to the Olympics. The days of Michelle Kwan and Sasha Cohen are gone.
However, the time for Rach- ael Flatt, 16, of Cheyenne Mountain High School, is now. And expect her name to be out front in U.S. women’s figure skating in the upcoming Olympic year.
Before a sellout Staples Center crowd Saturday night, Flatt followed Friday’s solid short program with an even better long as she took fifth place at the world campionships.
Her total score of 172.41 fell way short of the 207.71 of Kim Yu-na, the winner from South Korea, but for Flatt’s first seniors international competition, fifth in the world is in the category of teenage dreams.
“Optimistically, my goal was the top six,” Flatt said. “But my realistic goal was top 10. So I achieved that. I’m really happy. This was great.”
Flatt had a little help. Italy’s Carolina Kostner had a disastrous long program and tumbled from fifth to 12th. Finland’s Laura Lepisto stumbled once and switched places with Flatt.
After some constructive criticism following a subpar Four Continents last month, Flatt returned to her old long program. She switched her components and returned to her old music: Mathieu’s “Romantic Rhapsody.”
She two-footed a triple toe and got no points for missing an element in her closing combination spin. She did land seven triple jumps and received a massive ovation from the crowd.
“This definitely puts my name in the judges’ minds, hopefully, that I am a contender for Vancouver,” she said. “It’s just a good experience to get my name out there, and hopefully that’s what people think.”
This will be an interesting Olympic year. Cohen, the defending Olympic silver medalist, said Wednesday she’s making a comeback after taking three years off.
That’s not good news for an inexperienced American field scrambling for only two spots. That’s thanks to Alissa Czisny, the U.S. champion who had a better long program but still finished only 11th at 159.78. To qualify three for Vancouver, the U.S. needed two skaters whose placements combined no higher than 13.
“It was better than (Friday),” Czisny said. “I had to go back and think about what went wrong, what I need to fix and what works for me. I just went out there and tried to focus on each element. I think I got a little ahead of myself (Friday).”
If an Olympic medal is a long shot for the Americans, a gold appears a long shot for every woman in the world but Kim. She’s the heavy favorite after becoming the first woman in the five-year history of the scoring system to top 200 points.
Joannie Rochette became Canada’s first world medalist in 20 years and still lost 207.71-191.29.
“I didn’t really think about getting a score,” Kim said. “I just went with the program. Now that I’m over 200, I’m very excited, but I’m also worried about how I’ll keep the score — and keep close to it is my goal now.”
It was a surreal scene in the home of the Lakers, Clippers and Kings. Thousands of South Koreans, still fuming over losing the World Baseball Classic title game to bitter rival Japan at Dodger Stadium, wildly waved South Korean flags after Kim beat three Japanese rivals: Miki Ando, 2007 world champ; Mao Asada, defending champion; and Fumie Suguri.
“Even though I was in the USA, I felt like I was in Korea,” Kim said. “Because of that I was able to comfortably skate and able to skate well too.”
John Henderson: 303-954-1299 or jhenderson@denverpost.com
