Roundup: Nagasu leads, Cohen wows
Update (9:15 p.m.): I've added some links to other coverage of the Senior Ladies short program at the end of this post. Click "Read more."
Return to form. In some ways, the senior ladies short program Thursday night was the Sasha Cohen show. Yes, 16-year-old Mirai Nagasu, of Montebello, Calif., was in first place after the event. But 2006 champion and Olympic silver medalist Cohen, making her comeback to competition, had the crowd glued to her every move. She also had the media's attention. As one Twitter user commented after Cohen's performance, "Section 124 in the Spokane Arena is completely empty right now. Not one person. It's the media seating." Read more on the short program from Dave Trimmer.
Let's dance. In Thursday's other main event, ice dancing favorites and defending champs Meryl Davis and Charlie White scored a personal best to lead the field heading into tonight's original dance and Saturday's conclusion. Five-time champs Tanith Belbin and Ben Agosto were in second and, as Greg Lee writes in today's paper, the only real question is which team will lock up the bronze and the final spot on the Olympic roster.
Aiming for gold, circa 2014. Rebecca Nappi caught up with novice men's silver medalist Emmanuel Savary, 12, and his older brother at the Arena. The Delaware skater dreams of Olympic Gold in 2014, when he'll be 16. "It was where he belonged, on the ice," said Joel Savary, his brother. "He was happiest there."
Compliments to the host. U.S. Figure Skating officials heaped praise on Spokane at a Thursday press conference. "Skating goes all over the country and we have not experienced anywhere else the experience we have had here in Spokane," president Patricia St. Peter said. … It is just phenomenal.” Spokane is near the ticket-sales record it set in 2007 with two days of competition and Sunday's exhibitions remaining. Read the story.