SPOKANE, Wash. — America’s role model is set to show America she can skate, too.
Rachael Flatt is the Cheyenne Mountain High School senior who’s getting as much pub for her smarts as she is for her spins. The “Today” show pounced on her academic achievements. You can bet NBC will crank up the hype machine if she nabs one of the United States’ two Olympic spots this week at the U.S. Figure Skating Championships.
For starters, here’s a list of the schools to which she just sent applications: Stanford, Princeton, Harvard, Yale, Dartmouth, Johns Hopkins, Duke, UCLA and the University of Denver.
“I made sure each had an ice rink nearby,” Flatt said.
She should be a shoo-in at each school, especially if she adds “2010 Olympian” to her resume. It won’t be easy. When she does her short program tonight and her long program Saturday, she’ll be the two-time defending national runner-up.
However, adding to the dogfight for the two spots is Sasha Cohen, the most decorated active skater in the U.S. The two-time Olympian won one national title and placed second five times. But Cohen hasn’t skated competitively since her silver-medal performance in the 2006 Olympics. She adds mystery and star quality to a women’s field trying to break in a new wave.
“She’s a fierce competitor,” said Flatt, who was in fourth grade during Cohen’s first Olympics.
Flatt hasn’t competed since taking second at Skate America in November, but has already reached the media mainstream. She got criticized in The New York Times for her ponderous style.
“If she skated any slower, the championship would need crossing guards instead of judges,” the story read.
Her style might not win over the crowd, but her steadiness in major competitions should win the judges. In these nationals, which are basically Olympic trials, that’s all that matters.
“I think my consistency is an advantage, but at the same time I have to prove myself at nationals,” Flatt said. “I’m training very well and I’m so confident in my training but there are always exterior distractions when we arrive.”
Such as two other competitors who are as mercurial as Flatt is steady. However, when the likes of Alissa Czisny and Mirai Nagasu are on, few can beat them.
Czisny, 22, arrives as the defending champion but is in a deep slump. Nagasu, 16, is a dark horse. Since beating Flatt for the 2008 U.S. title as a 14-year-old, she has fought injuries and self-described “laziness.” She finished fifth in last year’s nationals.
Ice dancing also begins this morning. Locals involved include the Colorado Springs pair of Shannon Wingle and Tim McKernan, competing in their first year at the senior level, and Pueblo native Trina Pratt, who skates with Chris Obzansky of Canton, Mich. They were seventh last year.
John Henderson: 303-954-1299 or jhenderson@denveprost.com.
