Associated Press
SALT LAKE CITY – When Michelle Kwan is on, she’s tough to beat. And so far at these Olympics, the 1998 figure skating silver medalist is looking great.
Kwan goes for a gold medal tonight in the free skate, leading archrival Irina Slutskaya of Russia after the short program.
At practice Wednesday, Kwan’s confidence and comfort level showed. She was the only skater in the group of six leaders who ran through her entire program, and she wore a bright, natural smile the whole time.
“I felt really calm out there,” she said after Tuesday night’s short program. “I am well prepared, in good shape, healthy. You’ve just got to feel you are fortunate already, before the start of the program.”
After finishing second to Tara Lipinski in Nagano, an Olympic gold remains the only achievement the 21-year-old Kwan hasn’t won. Kwan is a four-time world champion and six-time national title winner.
The American teen-age skaters are in good shape for medals, too. Sasha Cohen is third going into the free skate, worth two-thirds of the overall score, and Sarah Hughes is fourth.
“She’s very focused, extremely focused,” Cohen’s coach, John Nicks, said after Wednesday’s practice. “It’s a very narrow focus, and that’s why my comments to her don’t seem to be absorbed sometimes.”
Hughes’ coach, Robin Wagner, was optimistic, too.
“Knowing Sarah’s personality, it’s probably better that she’s the chaser and not the chased,” Wagner said. “It fires her up.”
The skaters aren’t the only American women who will go for gold today. The U.S. women’s hockey team, riding a 35-game winning streak, meets the challenger everyone expected: Canada.
The U.S. team went 8-0 against its North American rival in pre-Olympic exhibitions. At the games, the United States and Canada have outscored their opponents by a combined 63-4 to set up a rematch of the Nagano final.
It’s also a rematch of every world championship game ever played. Canada has won the worlds seven times, but the United States took gold at Nagano.
“We’ve won everything except for the Olympics,” Canadian forward Hayley Wickenheiser said. “That’s the missing piece.”
Alpine combined silver winner Bode Miller competes again in the giant slalom, hoping to become the first U.S. Olympic medalist in that event. This season, he broke a 19-year American giant slalom drought on the World Cup tour.
Frederic Covili of France, Lasse Kjus of Norway and overall World Cup leader Stephan Eberharter of Austria are the other contenders.
“There are so many guys who are fast,” Miller said. “I know I have a lot of speed in GS, but I come into this race not being able to guess a favorite.”
Erik Schlopy of Park City placed third last spring in the World Cup giant slalom overall standings but has struggled with bronchitis this season. He’s back on home snow at Park City Mountain Resort.
“Park City has been my home for the last 10 years,” Schlopy said last week. “I know the hills really well and I know to build on that.”
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