Kimmie Meissner’s old friend, the triple axel, made an appearance at practice today on the main ice of the Scandinavium. Whether she will do one tonight when it counts at the World Figure Skating Championships is a matter for speculation.

Meissner is in ninth place after the short program with little to lose. She’s already planning to do a triple flip-triple toe combination in the long program, skated to "Nessun Dorma," Luciano Pavarotti’s signature song.

"We’ll see. Mr. Callaghan said we’d decide after practice," Meissner said, referring to her coach, Richard Callaghan.

Callaghan said Meissner had been landing about half of her triple axels, a percentage he would like to see higher before committing to it.

At the 2005 U.S. national championships, Meissner became only the second American woman after Tonya Harding to land the difficult 3 1/2-rotation jump. With no name recognition and little to lose, she completed it and won the bronze medal.

Japan’s Miki Ando has promised to raise the ante by attempting a quadruple salchow. But the defending world champion, who is in eighth place, left the ice moments after her practice started with no explanation from team officials.

In one tiny bit of controversy, Callaghan questioned the judges downgrading Meissner for taking off on the wrong edge and executing a triple lutz rather than a triple flip in the short program. Ironically, the lutz is a harder jump than the flip.

Callaghan, an elite-level coach for three decades, said he would review a DVD of her performance.

“If it’s true, I’ll be annoyed,” said Callaghan. “It was a very good flip and it came up on the [scoring] screen right away as a flip.”

Meissner agreed. “As fas as I’m concerned it was a flip. But it doesn’t matter what they called it because I was happy with my performance.”

Posted by Candus Thomson at 8:07 AM | Permalink | Comments (1)
                    

If you’re a blue crab kind of girl in a herring kind of country, dinner is a mighty lonely meal.

Luckily Kimmie Meissner came prepared with two boxes of Cheerios and bags of Craisins, dried and sweetened cranberries, in her suitcase. Supplemented with bananas from her hotel, it’s the fuel that’s kept Meissner running.

Meissner’s not a steak eater and pasta isn’t high on her list, either. Salad makings are hard to come by this time of year, and lutefisk -- the traditional Nordic dish of air-dried fish and lye -- is, shall we say, an acquired taste.

Peggy Fleming, the 1968 Olympic gold medalist and TV analyst, offered to prepare lemon-and-pepper chicken if Meissner could scrounge up a chicken. And a kitchen to cook it in.

Failing that, Fleming promised to take Meissner out for a day of shopping and a good meal on Friday, after the women’s competition is over.

Posted by Candus Thomson at 7:32 AM | Permalink
                    

Kimmie Meissner was all smiles today at the World Figure Skating Championships after she reached into a black sack and pulled out a white ball with "53" on it.

That draw means she will perform last in Wednesday's short program competition, after the judges have watched 52 other competitors over nearly eight hours.

"Well done," said her coach, Richard Callaghan, beaming.

"Last is cool," said Meissner, her grin matching his.

For some athletes, going last can be a nerve-wracking experience. At the 1999 world championships in Helsinki, Michelle Kwan could hear the crowd cheering for Russia's Maria Butyrskaya and lost her focus. She botched her opening triple jump and turned a double axel into a single on her way to losing the title to Butyrskaya.

But for other athletes, getting last licks means judges may have held back their best scores for the end -- especially the artistic mark.

Defending champion Miki Ando of Japan will skate 43rd and teammate Mao Asada is 45th.

Korea's Yu-Na Kim, the Grand Prix Final winner, will skate 48th.

Meissner's teammates had mixed results. BeBe Liang will skate a middle-of-the-pack 29th and Ashley Wagner will skate 47th.

Posted by Candus Thomson at 8:47 AM | Permalink
                    

Less than an hour after stepping off a plane from London, Kimmie Meissner stepped onto the practice ice at the Scandinavium today for her third World Figure Skating Championships competition.

A snowstorm swirling around the west coast of Sweden delayed Meissner’s connecting flight for two hours, giving her just minutes to become acquainted with her new surroundings before her first practice.

“I ran into my hotel room, washed my face and put makeup on -- sort of,” she said, laughing.

Meissner tried six triple axels, appearing to execute the requisite 3 ½-rotations but having trouble with the landings.

Then the Bel Air teen raised eyebrows and expectations of perhaps good things to come when she landed a clean triple loop-triple loop combination -- a first for her.

Meissner, who lost her world title last year and her U.S. title in January, said the whirlwind entrance made her feel “like I’m still in the air. My legs are still kind of wobbly.”

She was all smiles as she left the ice on her way to an ESPN interview.

“I think I look more confident. I feel that way,” she said. “I just really want to skate well. That’s my one wish.”

Posted by Candus Thomson at 11:38 AM | Permalink