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Kimmie finished in 7th place overall. Kimmie fell 3 times and it was just so heartbreaking to watch. Their is still the possibility that she will go to Worlds because Mirai and Rachael are to young. Ashley can go because she is old enough but it all comes down to what US Figure Skating decides. Coming from me please pick Kimmie she deserves it! I believe in her and I know she can do it. Pictures and everything will be added tomorrow. Again Kimmie if you are reading this I still love you and so do all of your fans!

Also hopefully by tomorrow I will have this set up. I want to set something up for all of Kimmie's fans to send her messages. In turn I will set something up through the site where Kimmie will be able to come and read. I want her to know that we all support her and love her.

Added 8 new images from last nights short program. Kimmie got a new dress! I think it is gorgeous! I definately prefer this one to the old one.

She is just 18. But the questions surrounding her as the women's competition began last night were the kind that typically dog aging, end-of-the-road athletes.

Could she bounce back from a disastrous Grand Prix Final, when she fell three times in her free skate, finishing sixth and last?

Could she prove that, despite starting college and having to face three new rivals, she is capable of repeating and, more important, continuing to move up in the sport?

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Wait, it's 12 points?" Nagasu said, her eyes widening when she heard how big a lead she had on Meissner. "Wow. That's exciting."

Get used to it, kid. If the 14-year-old keeps skating like this, there's going to be lots more excitement to come.

Nagasu pulled off one of the biggest upsets ever at the U.S. Figure Skating Championships on Thursday night. In her very first senior nationals — heck, her very first competition as a senior — the teenager won the short program with a spectacular performance that showed amazing flexibility, strong jumps and a presence on the ice well beyond her years.

Her score of 70.23 is the second-highest ever by an American woman in a short program, and it would stack up against anyone in the world. She had a 12.65 lead over Meissner, and it will be almost impossible for the defending national champion to beat her in Saturday's free skate.

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I have added an image of Kimmie during a practice at Nationals.

Still, after a last-place performance at her first Grand Prix Final last month, some people are asking: "Is there something wrong with Kimmie Meissner?"

The skater's answer will come this week, when she defends her title in St. Paul, Minn., against a largely unheralded field.

But it's clear the Bel Air teen has changed her game plan. The normally gregarious Meissner has shied away from interviews in favor of more training.

"I'm keeping things low-key," she says between practice sessions at the University of Delaware.

There have been adjustments since the end of the Grand Prix season -- "It wouldn't be a competition if I didn't change something," she says, joking. The setup for her jumps is new, and circular footwork has replaced straight-line steps. Last week, Meissner and coach Pam Gregory were trying to settle on a combination jump.

Judges this season have cracked down on skaters who don't complete the required number of rotations on jumps or use the wrong skate edge on takeoff. Tougher enforcement resulted in downgraded performances for all of the women competitors at Skate America, which Meissner won, and at Skate Canada, where many of the elite athletes struggled.

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Below the Maryland native stood her U.S. rival, Emily Hughes, who narrowly took home silver instead of gold after finishing just 0.82 of a point behind Meissner in the final total.

Now Meissner, the 2006 world champion, enters the 2008 U.S. championships in St. Paul, Minn., looking to defend her U.S. title.

"When you do well, you want to repeat, so there’s always a little bit more pressure when you're the defending champion," Meissner said. "I feel really good going in to this year's competition."

This year Meissner won't have Hughes lurking behind her. The sister of 2002 Olympic gold medalist, Sarah Hughes, withdrew from the 2008 U.S. Championships last week with an injury.

Instead, the 18-year-old Meissner will try to hold off a group of younger, less-experienced skaters.

"The younger skaters are very energetic and they're ready to go. As for me, I've been working a lot at being a lot more artistic on the ice," Meissner said.

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Top level competition begins Wednesday with compulsory dance and pairs short routines while the women's short program and original dance are Thursday with the men's short on Friday.

Pairs, dance and women's finals are Saturday with the men's final Sunday.

Lysacek and three-time US champion Johnny Weir are the men's favorites with each planning the quad, a four-revolution jump, in their free skate finals. Lysacek, 22, dethroned Weir, 23, last year to capture his first US crown.

Lysacek, twice a bronze medalist at worlds, was fourth at the 2006 Torino Winter Olympics, one place ahead of Weir, and both will be looking to the medal podium at the 2010 Vancouver Winter Olympics.

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.

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At University of Delaware's annual U.S. Championships' send-off exhibition last Saturday, Meissner chatted with friends, signed autographs and posed for pictures. The self-proclaimed Beatles' maniac reeled off a new exhibition program, choreographed by Nathan Birch to John Lennon's "Imagine." She even took an encore, showing off her newly perfected triple flip-triple loop combination to an appreciative crowd. What she didn't do was talk to the press.

"There's really nothing to say," the 18-year-old said, politely declining all questions as she turned back to her fans.

"Kimmie is skating really well right now, and she wants to stay focused," Ron Ludington, who directs University of Delaware's figure skating program, explained. "She did run-throughs of her long program (to Puccini's "Nessun Dorma") yesterday and she hit the triple flip-triple loop combination five times out of five. She's getting mileage on it. Never write this kid off. She'll bounce back."

Questions about Meissner's competitive grit surfaced after the 2006 World champion placed sixth and last at the Grand Prix Final in Torino in December, falling three times in her free skate. Over three events, she has yet to gain credit for a clean triple-triple combination in competition this season.

The skater's coach, Pam Gregory, said Meissner was far from fit in Torino. "She sprained her right ankle in training; she kept it under wraps and made no excuses. It was a tough injury, because of course that's the ankle she lands her jumps on. "She didn't have time to recover and I know it bothered her. I think she tried to muscle the jumps, which doesn't work. She's much better now, because she's had a chunk of time to train for Nationals."

Still, other U.S. youngsters gained on the 18-year-old Meissner throughout the fall. The reigning national champion finished more than 22 points behind 14-year-old Caroline Zhang in Torino and lost the free skate at Trophee Eric Bompard to another American, 16-year-old Ashley Wagner.

"A few performances don't define who Kimmie is as a skater," Gregory asserted. "Look at Michelle Kwan, how many up-and-comers she went through. The true long-term champion says bring it on. Kimmie is tough and she's a great athlete."

Meissner is perfecting her programs with Birch, who visits her rink twice a week to refine her artistic expression. Her "Nessun Dorma" free, created by Lori Nichol, is her second long program of the season; an initial effort by David Wilson was scrapped.

"It was a beautiful program and we appreciated David's creativity, but Kimmie couldn't make it work," Gregory explained. "It was worth it to risk a change. I think it was a good decision. Last year, people said Kimmie was a bit mechanical out there, so we've been working on that."

Gregory is not tinkering with Meissner's jumping technique, despite newly critical judging that has cost the skater many technical points this season.

"The downgrades are happening a lot to almost everyone," she said. "It depends on the callers and how tough they are. And as for the deductions for incorrect take-off edges, quite frankly, most skaters do either two flips or two Lutzes in their programs. For skaters at this level, it's nothing they can fix in the middle of a season. They've already done these jumps thousands of times."

Programs and jumps aside, Gregory believes Meissner's greatest asset is her even-tempered approach to competition.

"Kimmie takes success and failure in stride," said the coach. "In this sport, you have to have a thick skin to survive. The Grand Prix Final results certainly don't determine who will be on the podium at the World Championships."

Then she got right back to business. Wagner, 16, warmed up for her U.S. senior debut with a bronze medal at Trophee Eric Bompard, finishing less than one point behind defending U.S. champ Meissner.

This week, she and other stars in the making -- including 14-year-olds Caroline Zhang and Mirai Nagasu and 15-year-old Rachael Flatt -- will storm the senior ranks at the U.S. Figure Skating Championships at Xcel Energy Center.

Meissner will return to defend her title. But most of the buzz centers on the youngsters, whose lively competition at the junior level appears primed to continue on the big stage. Their age notwithstanding, these are hardly naive girls. They are internationally tested, medal-toting competitors -- and while they respect their elders, they do not fear them.

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They come from all over -- from her own rink at the University of Delaware to Brea, Calif., home to 14-year-old Caroline Zhang. Zhang supposedly is the next great thing in U.S. figure skating.

They all hope to dethrone Meissner this week in the U.S. Figure Skating Championships at St. Paul, Minn.

If the pressure of keeping her place as the best American skater has gotten to Meissner, you would never know it.

In fact, Meissner would much rather talk about her life as a freshman at the University of Delaware, or the BMW that she drives, or her friends, or the work she does on her Cool Kids campaign to raise money for pediatric cancer patients.

That's why Meissner felt embarrassed recently when she was in a class at Delaware, and her teacher announced that she is a world-class figure skater.

"I slunk down in my chair and put my hood up," Meissner said with a laugh. "I try to keep all of that separate -- my school life and my skating life. I have my skating friends, and I have my student friends, and that's how I like it."

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Peggy Lee reports they waited hours to see her and Kimmie Meissner didn't disappoint.

The fans packed a Newark ice rink to see the latest tricks Bel Air's beauty had in store.

"Looks like there's a huge crowd here," said Barbara Roles. "It's actually kind of an honor in a way."

Kimmie's headed for the U.S. Figure Skating Championships and Saturday, the University of Delaware hosted an exhibition show for her and other skaters planning to compete.

"This is kind of a trial run for the skaters. What they're doing, they're performing the programs that they do at the competition," said ice skating science director Ron Ludington.

Eyewitness News talked with Kimmie last January after her win at the 2007 U.S. Championships.

"Yeah, I was happy. I was happy that I won," she said.

Despite the fame brought by claiming both national and world championship titles and participating in the 2008 Winter Olympics, success doesn't seem to have changed her.

"She's very grounded. She's impressive. She's a great role model for every other young lady out there. I admire her. She makes you feel good just talking to her," said Margie Cox.

This hard-working athlete knows the next challenge is always around the corner.

"I'll be doing double time in training, trying to get ready again because I have a couple days off and then that's it," she said.

2007 US Nationals - Interview After Short Program
2007 ISU Four Continents Championships - Long Program Kiss & Cry + Interview
2007 ISU Four Continents Championships - Misc/Fluff
2007 US Nationals - Interview After Short Program
2007 US Nationals - Misc/Fluff 1
2007 US Nationals - Short Program Kiss & Cry