Czisny poised for worlds

The last time Alissa Czisny went to the world championships, she was so awful she cost the United States a third spot at the Vancouver Olympics.

That, however, was two years ago, an eternity in figure skating. Especially when considering the kind of transformation that Czisny has made.

Czisny’s mercurial ways were a thing of the past in winning her second title at the U.S. Figure Skating Championships Saturday night as she kept her poise while previous champions Rachael Flatt and Mirai Nagasu faltered. But Czisny knows there are still some who doubt her and will until she shows she can keep it together at worlds, where the pressure is greatest.

“This whole season is me as a new skater,” Czisny said. “I’ve been able to be a lot more consistent in my competitions this season, doing what I have to do when I have to do it, and I plan to do the same thing at worlds.”

The U.S. will have only two spots at worlds for a third straight year, and will be counting on Czisny to reverse that disappointing trend. Czisny and Flatt have to finish with a combined placement of 13th or better (fifth and eighth, for example) to get a third spot for 2012.

The worlds are March 21-26 in Tokyo.

Oh, sure, some of the responsibility will be on Flatt, who has fallen out of favor with international judges since her fifth-place finish at the 2009 worlds. And with style points never her strong suit, she’ll need to pump up the technical side of her free skate, which was uninspired, to say the least, Saturday night.

“I’d love to peak at the world championships,” Flatt said. “But especially with my programs this year, I think I’ve got a good chance for a great showing.”

But as national champ, Czisny will be expected to carry the Americans.

After her meltdown at the 2009 worlds, she knocked herself out of the running for the Vancouver team with a dismal short program at last year’s nationals. It was a “heartbreak,” she said earlier this week, and she wasn’t even sure she wanted to keep skating.

But her mentor, Brian Boitano, told her she should never walk away with regrets. Czisny left Julie Berlin, her coach since she was a little girl, to train with 1994 world champion Yuka Sato and her husband, Jason Dungjen, and has blossomed with their support.

No one has ever questioned Czisny’s athleticism, beauty or elegance. Skating to George Winston’s “Winter into Spring” Saturday night, she was both delicate and powerful. Her edge quality was so first-class that her tracings could be sold as artwork. Her spirals were exquisite, prompting the oohs and aahs that Michelle Kwan and Sasha Cohen used to hear.

But she now has the mettle to match her skills. She got off balance on her triple loop, the kind of thing that would have sent her into a tailspin in the past. But she fought hard and saved the landing, and the rest of her performance was flawless.

“It’s hard to say one thing (they’ve done) because it’s everything. But the very first thing was that they believed in me, and I was at a point where not too many probably believed in me,” Czisny said. “Every single day I go home thankful — and still go home thankful — that they believe in me and that they’re here for me.

“It’s hard to give you one specific instance or one specific example, because it’s every day.”

Czisny can hold her own on the international scene, becoming the first American since Cohen in 2002 to win the Grand Prix final. But Olympic champion Kim Yu-na wasn’t there, and neither was world champ Mao Asada.

Kim, however, hasn’t skated all year, and beginning the season at worlds is a tall order, even for her. Asada has had her own issues, doing so poorly on the Grand Prix circuit she didn’t even qualify for the final. If Czisny can perform as she did Saturday, a medal is within reach.

Not so the pairs, no matter how inspiring new champions Caitlin Yankowskas and John Coughlin are in their “Ave Maria” free skate, a tribute to his late mother.

The Americans haven’t produced a pair that can contend internationally for more than a decade, with Kyoko Ina and John Zimmerman winning the last world medal, a bronze in 2002. (And that was against a watered-down, post-Olympic field.) Part of the problem is that several once-promising pairs have split up.

But the bigger problem is inconsistency. In the last seven years, only one pairs team, Keauna McLaughlin and Rockne Brubaker, who have since split, managed to defend its U.S. title. Not only that, but three of the last four champs failed to even make the world team the year after winning.

“We’re knocking on the door. Anyone in the audience saw the fight in all the teams in those last two groups,” Coughlin said. “We’re coming, and the world knows.”

To be fair, the Americans did have their best showing since 2002 at last year’s worlds, with both Caydee Denney and Jeremy Barrett and Amanda Evora and Mark Ladwig finishing in the top 10. Evora and Ladwig will be going back to worlds after finishing second again.

“We were pretty darn close (to getting three spots) last year,” Ladwig said. “Medals are great, but three teams are the first step.”

The one discipline in which the Americans can count on bringing home some shiny souvenirs is dance — quite a turnaround from a decade ago, when U.S. dancers were practically invisible on the international scene. Now the U.S. has won back-to-back Olympic silver medals, and Meryl Davis and Charlie White are determined to end the American oh-fer atop the world podium.