Jan. 24, 2008 - Reigning US champion Kimmie Meissner will defend her crown this week in St. Paul at the US Figure Skating Championships.
Top level competition began on Wednesday with compulsory dance and pairs short routines while the women’s short program and original dance are slated for today. Pairs, dance and women’s finals are Saturday.
Meissner and 14-year-old Caroline Zhang are favored in a women’s event lacking 2007 runner-up Emily Hughes due to a hip injury. She was fourth at Skate America and Skate Canada and seventh at the 2006 Winter Olympics.
Meissner, 18, won the 2006 world title but figures to be tested by a host of young rivals, including Zhang; Mirai Nagasu, 14; Ashley Wagner, 16, and Rachael Flatt, 15.
Zhang won last year’s world junior crown with Nagasu and Wagner also sharing the podium in a US sweep that served notice of a new generation to follow in the skatemarks of legend Michelle Kwan with the 2010 Games approaching.
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