History Is Waiting on Ice

History is beckoning Michelle Kwan. Between her and a record-tying ninth U.S. Figure Skating championship stands a revitalized Sasha Cohen, still trying to transform potential into her first national or world title.

Kwan, of Manhattan Beach, won the short program Thursday with three perfect 6.0 scores and will end the competition when she performs her “Bolero” long program tonight at the Rose Garden. If she wins, she will match the feats of Maribel Vinson Owen, who parlayed a mastery of compulsory figures into dominance of the sport in the 1920s and 1930s. She has already earned Cohen’s admiration.

“I think it’s really amazing what she’s done with her career,” Cohen said Friday after practicing her “Nutcracker” routine at the Memorial Coliseum. “Very few athletes are able to stay at the top of their game for so long. It’s great for me to be able to compete with her and learn from her. She’s had some tough times and come back and had a great work ethic. That teaches you and inspires you.”

Cohen’s pursuit of Kwan carried her from Orange County to Connecticut, New York, New Jersey and home a month ago; her coaching path hopscotched from John Nicks to Tatiana Tarasova and Robin Wagner and back to Nicks. Still, she has beaten Kwan in only one Olympic-style event, finishing second at the 2004 world championships to Kwan’s third.

Cohen’s spins surpass Kwan’s in variety and difficulty, but Kwan is a master at enrapturing audiences.

“When I left Aliso Viejo, I was looking for something, for someone, to make me be Number One and make me perfect. I realized the last two years that person is me,” Cohen said. “No matter who my coach is, I have to depend on myself. I’ve really learned how to handle myself and compete. ... I learned a lot from Tatiana and Robin, and I feel like I have the whole picture.”

Kwan, 24, is competing in her 13th senior-level national championships. When she finished sixth in 1993, Cohen was 8 years old. So was Jenny Kirk of Hermosa Beach, who’s third behind Kwan and Cohen. Kimmie Meissner of Bel Air, Md., who’s fourth, was 3 years old during the 1993 nationals. Beatrisa Liang of Granada Hills, who is fifth, was 4.

“It’s funny, because I’m very sentimental,” Kwan said earlier this week. “So a lot of things, even hearing certain music, I find myself thinking I’m still 16 in San Jose [winning] my first nationals. It’s been a long career, but I still enjoy it.”

The men’s event also concludes today, with the long program. Tim Goebel, the 2002 Olympic bronze medalist, is the leader after landing the only clean quadruple jump in the short program competition. Defending champion Johnny Weir is second and Evan Lysacek, who trains in El Segundo, is third.

Tanith Belbin and Ben Agosto became the first U.S. skaters to earn 6.0s from all nine judges in winning the free dance and their second consecutive U.S. title. They can’t compete at the Turin Olympics because Canadian-born Belbin won’t become a U.S. citizen until 2007, but they’re eligible for the world championships in Moscow in March. They’ll try to become the first U.S. dance team to win a world medal since Judy Blumberg and Michael Seibert won bronze in 1985. Melissa Gregory and Denis Petukhov were second and got the other world team berth.

Katie Orscher and Garrett Lucash of Simsbury, Conn., were the best in a mediocre field and won their first pairs title after two runner-up finishes. Defending champions Rena Inoue and John Baldwin of Santa Monica made several missteps but held onto second place and the other U.S. spot at the world championships.

“We didn’t think our title was for sale and we weren’t ready to give it up, but we were outskated by Katie and Garrett,” Baldwin said after their routine to Selections from the Trans Siberian Orchestra drew marks of 5.4 to 5.6 for technical merit and 5.6s and 5.7s for presentation.

Orscher and Lucash’s program to “Samson and Delilah” was elegant but slow. Their technical marks ranged from 5.6 to 5.8; they got 5.7s and 5.8s for presentation.

*

Skater Angela Nikodinov’s father, Nick, returned to San Pedro after surviving the car accident that killed his wife, Dolores, in Portland on Wednesday. Angela withdrew from the competition but stayed in Portland with her coach, Igor Pashkevich, who is hospitalized with a concussion and broken neck bone.

*

Figure Skating

What: U.S. Figure Skating Championships.

Where: Rose Garden in Portland, Ore.

TV: Channel 7 (1-3 p.m., including men’s free skate live; 8-11 p.m., including women’s free skate on tape).