The only "judges" in the house a panel comprising TV commentators Peggy Fleming, Peter Carruthers and Dick Button gave a healthy nod to Cohen, whose triple jumps were flawless.
Kwan, by comparison, looked tentative, rigid and wooden. Her performance included nothing more difficult than a double jump, and even her typically flawless footwork and graceful skating lines looked out of kilter.
Some of that is to be expected: This was the first competition for Kwan, 25, after a serious hip injury two months ago. But the U.S. Figure Skating Championships loom less than a month away, and a berth in what could be Kwan's third Olympics is on the line.
Her battle to get back on the medal stand isn't just against injury. She also must cope with figure-skating's new scoring system, which, since its implementation last year, has strongly favored more athletic skaters such as Cohen.
Skating insiders have wondered for months that Kwan might seize the opportunity of next month's national championships to bow out of the sport, figuring the odds were stacked against her. Those questions are likely to grow stronger after Sunday's performance.
The sloppy skate also prompted new speculation fanned partially by Kwan's own statements that she might opt out of next month's national championships altogether.
That could create a white-hot controversy for U.S. Figure Skating officials. Only the national champion is guaranteed a spot on the three-member U.S. women's team for Turin. Kwan could still ask for a spot, and be granted one, by U.S. Figure Skating, as late as Jan. 28.
The problem? Another talented young skater who finished second or third at nationals the likes of Emily Hughes or rising star Kimmie Meissner might have to pay the price by staying home.
Kwan clearly would like to grab that elusive Olympic gold medal to seal her legacy.
But all of this is enough to make one wish Kwan, if she really can't go next month in St. Louis, would seize the opportunity to simply walk away as the greatest female champion the sport has ever known.
It would be far from a perfect ending. But given the circumstances, perhaps the only one offering an exit with typical Michelle Kwan grace.
How's that again?
Austrian Olympic downhill legend Franz Klammer he of that famed, insanely fast, completely out-of-control, gold-medal downhill run at the '76 Innsbruck Games carried the Olympic torch outside Rome last week and paused to drop a bomb on reporters. Today's downhill racers, Klammer opined, are skiing "way too fast."
Isn't that a little like former Nixon Administration officials bemoaning the slimy nature of modern politics?
Crunch time on ice for Bakken
Kirkland's Jill Bakken will need some big World Cup results in the next few weeks to win a chance to defend her 2002 Salt Lake bobsled gold medal. After last week's World Cup race in Igls, Austria, Bakken ranks fifth in the world in total points, trailing U.S. rivals Shauna Rohbock and Jean (Racine) Prahm, ranked second and third, respectively, among drivers.
Only two U.S. drivers will be named to the Turin Olympic squad next month. Bakken isn't out of the hunt yet, though. She has 175 points; Prahm has 230, Rohbock 250. The women race again Friday in Cortina, Italy.
Speaking of slippery
Two-time U.S. doubles luge medalist Mark Grimmette, named last week to the Turin Olympic squad along with partner Brian Martin, has a unique answer to the how-he-got-into-the-sport question: He woke up one morning to the sound of heavy machinery taking apart his favorite sled hill next to his home in Muskegon, Mich.
"I asked them what they were doing. They said they were building a luge track, and they were looking for volunteers," recalls Grimmette, 14 at the time.
He grabbed a hammer and, when the track was finished, traded it in for a sled. He has been sliding to World Cup victories and Olympic medals ever since.
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