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ST. LOUIS -- Despite a bout with the flu and feeling "a little empty" without Michelle Kwan around, silver-a-plenty Sasha Cohen is a skate away from the gold medal that has eluded her at the U.S. Figure Skating Championships.
"Ice is slippery. Anything can happen. I hope my time is now. I hope it always. But just skate in the present," Cohen said after leading the women's short program Thursday night.
Cohen built a comfortable lead with 65.15 points in the new international scoring system being used at U.S. nationals for the first time. She was followed by 16-year-old Emily Hughes with 59.11 and 17-year-old Bebe Liang with 58.82.
Though Liang had a long wait as the last competitor of the night, she skated a clean program to drop 16-year-old Kimmie Meissner (55.03) to fourth.
Liang, fifth at nationals last year, was all smiles after her skate. "This is such a big year, and this is the right year to put it all together," she said.
Alissa Czisny, 18, fell on a double axel and a triple flip and scored 54.51 for fifth.
"I'll just try to go out there on Saturday and fight each jump," said Czisny, who won a gold and a silver on the Grand Prix series this season.
Cohen, the four-time U.S. silver medalist, can clinch the title and an automatic berth to her second Olympics in the free skate Saturday night. Then comes a behind-closed-doors moment of decision of another sort that has hovered over this high-stakes event all week.
Kwan, 25, the five-time world champion and nine-time U.S. champion, opted not to compete here. Citing a groin injury, she has petitioned U.S. Figure Skating to give her a direct berth to her third Winter Games.
"I definitely miss competing with her. It doesn't even feel like nationals, but I've had so many things going on this week," said Cohen, who spent last weekend in bed at her California home with the flu.
Cohen said she wasn't "at 100%" Thursday night because of her illness. "I had a week of unknowns. I think I've spent the majority of the last week in bed," she said. "I've just improved loads every single day. ... I hope to be 100% for Saturday."
Only the champions in each of the four disciplines get automatic berths. The USA's other two women's spots for the Olympics will be decided by a vote of the 36-member international committee of U.S. Figure Skating at a meeting immediately after Saturday night's free skate. It's a decision that could reduce the bronze medalist here to Olympic alternate.
"I definitely think that whoever it is that doesn't get to go will be devastated," Cohen said. "But then again, it the U.S.'s job to pick the best team."
By that, she said, she meant "the best three skaters" to compete in the Olympics. Asked if she thinks Kwan is in the top three, Cohen said, "Oh, definitely, yes."
Kwan, also sidelined earlier this season by a hip injury, says the groin pull occurred in mid-December. She has said her doctor has given her a recuperative timetable to resume jumping this weekend. So, just how much information the committee will have on her current physical condition, her skating fitness and her prospects for recovery by next month's Games in Torino are all matters for murky conjecture.
Cohen, four times the U.S. runner-up to Kwan and world silver medalist the last two years, hit all of her jumps Thursday night, including a double axel she was missing in practice earlier Thursday.
Hughes received a boost during the day Thursday when she received a call from her older sister, 2002 Olympic champion Sarah Hughes.
"She wished me luck and said she was going to watch (on TV)," said Hughes, who said her sister planned to be here Saturday.
Hughes lost the back of an earring during warm-ups, which sent the flower girls scurrying until Hughes found it. "Sort of lightened the mood a little," laughed Hughes, who landed her jumps but wobbled some on a triple lutz, double toe combination.
Meissner had trouble on a combination attempt of her own -- a triple-lutz, triple toe loop in which she lost points for steps between jumps.
"I didn't feel that it was that bad of a mistake because it wasn't a major mistake," said Meissner, a surprise third in nationals a year ago.
But that combo cleanly executed has a base value of 10 points. Because of the extra steps, it was no longer considered a combination. Meissner got 3.86 points.
Meissner figures Kwan will get her Olympic berth. "I think that there's probably only two spots," she said. "Maybe one only since you can almost say Sasha will get it. So it's tough."
Hughes said she is not dwelling on the intricacies of Olympic selection. "I just really want to skate two great programs here," she said.
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