PROVIDENCE, R.I. -- After spending half her life as a skating nomad, Nicole Bobek found her place in United States figure skating history last night.
Bobek, 17, of Chicago, won the women's United States Figure Skating championship last night at the Providence Civic Center in a tightly contested long program.
Skating to "Dr. Zhivago," Bobek hit five of six triple jumps, and had great height on all of them. She knew she had put on an impressive show especially after she nailed a split triple toe late in a program, and she responded with a smile and clenched fists.
This was redemption for Bobek, long considered one of the sport's bad girls. Bobek had not won a skating title since the 1991 U.S. Olympic Festival, and has a history of poor training habits. She has changed coaches 11 times in 12 years, and once was intoxicated at a world junior championship.
Leading up to nationals, Bobek had been in a slump, finishing seventh at the Goodwill Games and at Skate America and fifth at the U.S. Pro-Am.
"My main goal was to show everybody that I was ready and prepared," said Bobek. "I had something to prove."
It was a rare double for Richard Callaghan, who coaches both Bobek and men's champion Todd Eldredge. Callaghan has been with Eldredge for years, but only began teaching Bobek last fall. The last coach to have both U.S. singles champions was Gus Lussi in 1950.
Bobek's performance ruined the expected crowing of Michelle Kwan as the new queen of the sport.
The 14-year-old from Lake Arrowhead, Calif, was second. Kwan started strong, but fell on a triple Lutz late in her program. Tonia Kwiatkowski, 24, of Broadview Heights, Ohio, finished third.
Bobek and Kwan will participate in the World Championships next month in Birmingham, England.
"I don't feel the pressure got to me," said Kwan, who was heavily favored to win.
Kwan began skating at the age of 5, won her first event at 7, and won the Olympic Festival and Junior World Championships before turning 14.
She placed second at last year's nationals in Detroit during the Tonya Harding-Nancy Kerrigan fiasco and finished eighth in the World Championships.
Kwan said she was distracted by the Harding-Kerrigan affair, but she performed well last night in one of the most expressive programs of her career.
Kwan came into the championship with the burden of being the next champion, and some minor concerns about her weight.