COLORADO SPRINGS — You won’t have to wait and see how Rachael Flatt does her triple flips, or hear her new music to see the change in her.
You’ll notice it as soon as she steps on the ice to defend her U.S. Figure Skating National Championships title Thursday in Greensboro, N.C. Her long, flowing, lion mane-thick strawberry blond locks are gone. In their place is a short, neat bob that has a purpose beyond lower maintenance.
“A bunch of judges suggested I get my hair cut and go for a new look,” Flatt said after a recent practice at the World Arena. “Unlike most women, I’m not horribly attached to my hair.”
The haircut is only the most obvious of a series of changes that Flatt hopes will lift her on the international scene. She is doing modern dance and ballroom dance to improve artistry, she changed her short program in hopes of having a deeper connection with the crowd and is working on a problem back that has limited her flexibility.
However, don’t call this a makeover. Flatt won nationals for the first time last year as a senior at Cheyenne Mountain High School and placed seventh in the Vancouver Olympics.
She’s not exactly starting from scratch.
“I know I have to work on my artistry, but at the same time I know I’m a very athletic skater and that’s just kind of who I am,” Flatt said. “That doesn’t mean I’m completely disregarding that feedback.”
That feedback hasn’t always been kind. The Chicago Tribune and Sports Illustrated questioned her national title last year over Mirai Nagasu, who, like most skaters of Asian heritage, scores heavily with artistry.
Since arriving on the international scene, Flatt has been known more as a jumper than an artist.
“I don’t read those blogs,” said her coach, Tom Zakrajsek.
He points to the Olympics, where Flatt’s component scores, which reflect artistry, were the best of her career despite her drop after the long program from fifth to seventh. Still, it’s clear by her schedule and emphasis that artistry is her point of emphasis this season.
The straight-A student postponed enrollment at Stanford for a year to concentrate on skating.
“I get to start a little later in the day, which is really nice,” she said.
She’s also using her spare time to read for pleasure. The likes of Sherlock Holmes and “Gone with the Wind” are replacing tomes on physics. She’s volunteering in a class at Cheyenne Mountain, where she helps a counselor teach fledgling athlete-scholars how to balance time.
“Just learning how to deal with pressures and expectations of school and athletics,” Flatt said, “a lot of the things we discussed about what I went through last year.”
Still, it’s no slacker schedule. She skates four times a day for 45 minutes a shot. She has a modern dance class, a ballroom dance class and a power class one day a week. She has a stretch class twice a week.
She also works with a doctor at the Olympic Training Center, trying to stretch a back that has made getting high scores with simple laybacks nearly impossible. Three bulging discs have greatly limited her flexibility, and only a surgery she wants to avoid until retirement can repair them.
“That is tough to manage, especially since I’m constantly jumping,” said Flatt, who is ranked eighth in the world. “There’s a lot of stress on my back. It’s been a real learning process this year and it’s certainly feeling better, but it’s not 100 percent healed.”
Her tune has changed, and that doesn’t mean her attitude. She dropped her short program music, “Summertime,” for “East of Eden,” a more emotional program that judges have hinted would be a nice addition to her program.
“It gets to your gut,” Flatt said of the music. “They want to see programs that are more artistic, and for me I have to be emotionally connected to the music and choreography in the program as a whole in order for that to show on the ice.”
Zakrajsek is downplaying all of the changes in a competition that’s fairly wide open. Alissa Czisny won the Grand Prix Final in which Flatt placed sixth, and Nagasu took fourth in the Olympics.
Those two, plus Ashley Wagner, who placed third in last year’s nationals, will battle Flatt, whose development, makeover or not, is on the line.
“She’s young,” Zakrajsek said. “It’s like a natural progression and maturity. That’s how I look at it. It wasn’t like a conscious effort of, ‘Oh, you need a new haircut.’ “
John Henderson: 303-954-1299 or jhenderson@denverpost.com
U.S. Figure Skating Championships
Where: Greensboro, N.C.
When: Thursday — Pairs short, 1:30-4:10 p.m. MST; ladies short, 5:15-9:05 p.m. Friday — Dance short, 1-3:40 p.m.; men’s short, 5:30-9:15 p.m. Saturday — Pairs free, 12:25-1:55 p.m.; dance free, 2:20-3:55 p.m.; ladies free, 4:45-9 p.m. Sunday — Men’s free, 11:30 a.m.-3:50 p.m.
TV: Saturday — NBC: Pairs, 1-4 p.m.; ladies free, 9-11 p.m. Sunday — NBC: Men’s short, free, 2-4 p.m.
Berths for the world championships: Three for men, two for ladies, two for pairs, three for dance.
