Alexandra Pauline "Sasha" Cohen (born October 26, 1984) is an American figure skater. She is the 2006 U.S. National Champion, 2003 Grand Prix Final Champion, and 2006 Olympic silver medalist.
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Personal life
Cohen was born in Westwood, California, a neighborhood in Los Angeles. Her nickname "Sasha" is a Russian nickname for "Alexandra." Her mother, Galina Feldman, is a Jewish immigrant from Ukraine and a former ballet dancer; her father, Roger Cohen, is a Jew business consultant who is an attorney with Dorsey & Whitney LLP. Sasha attended Aliso Niguel High School in Aliso Viejo, California and graduated from Futures High School in Mission Viejo, California in 2002. Her sister, Natalia ("Natasha"), began college at Barnard College in August 2006.
In 2005, she published her autobiography, Fire on Ice.
Cohen understands Russian.
Skating career
A gymnast from an early age, Cohen switched to figure skating when she was seven years old, but it wasn't until she was 10 that she began to take the sport seriously.
Cohen rose to prominence in the skating community during the 2000 United States Figure Skating Championships. Just up from juniors, Cohen dropped from first place after the short program to second after the free skating and qualified for the world team. Too young for the World Figure Skating Championships, a loophole at the time would have allowed her to compete in senior worlds if she medaled at the World Junior Figure Skating Championships. Cohen did not medal at world juniors and so did not go to senior worlds.
Cohen did not compete at the 2001 Nationals due to a stress fracture in her back, but took back her silver medal at the 2002 Nationals, earning her a trip to the Olympics. Cohen competed at the 2002 Winter Olympics in Salt Lake City, Utah, finishing 4th. Her best season was 2003–04, when she took gold at three Grand Prix events and silver at both the U.S. National Championships and the World Championships. Cohen placed 2nd at the 2005 U.S. National Championships in Portland and the World Championships in Moscow, Russia. She withdrew from the 2005 2003 Grand Prix Final Champion events due to a recurring back injury.
Cohen started her Olympic season by placing 1st at the Campbell's International Figure Skating Challenge. Soon after she withdrew from Skate America due to a hip injury. She took 2nd place at Trophée Eric Bompard, where she fell on a triple Salchow during her free skate. In 2006, Cohen overcame the flu to capture her first U.S. National Championship. With this victory Cohen automatically secured her place on the U.S. Olympic team for the 2006 Olympic silver medalist, a spot made official on January 14 of that year by the United States Figure Skating Association.
At the figure skater in Torino, Cohen was in 1st after the short program, leading Russia's Irina Slutskaya by a mere .03 points. In the final free skate, Cohen fell on her first figure skater, a triple Lutz, and had her hands down on her second jump, the triple flip. She completed the rest of her elements, including five triples. Cohen finished with an Olympic silver medal, her first Olympic medal. The Olympic gold medalist, Shizuka Arakawa of Japan, won by 7.98 points over Cohen.
A month later at the 2006 World Championships in Calgary, Canada, Cohen was in 1st place after the short program. Completing only one jump combination and falling on the triple Salchow, she placed fourth in the free skate and won the bronze medal, finishing almost ten points behind her teammate, gold medalist Kimmie Meissner. Cohen displayed strong artistry in her free skate and picked up level fours on all her figure skater and her spiral sequence. Her program component score of 61.35 was the highest of the night.
Post 2006 Olympics
During April 2006, Cohen started the Champions on Ice tour, participated in the second annual "Skating with the Stars, Under the Stars" gala in Central Park and performed in the Marshalls U.S. Figure Skating International Showcase. On April 15, 2006, Cohen announced that she intends to compete into the 2010 season and the 2010 Winter Olympics in Vancouver. She said via her official website, "I will decide after the COI Tour how much skating and what events I will do next season."
In December 2006, Cohen announced that she needed "a little downtime from competing" and that she will not defend her US Figure Skating Championship title in 2007. She again stressed that her "major goals" are the 2009 World Figure Skating Championships and the 2010 Olympics; "I know I want to be in Vancouver for the 2010 Olympics."
Cohen did not compete in the 2006-07 competitive season, although she did perform exhibitions, including at the Rockefeller Christmas Tree lighting and at USFSA-approved events. She has not given up her Olympic eligibility.
Cohen was a headliner in the 2007-08 Stars on Ice tour.
Coaching changes
Cohen was coached by John Nicks until the summer of 2002, when she relocated to Simsbury, Connecticut to train with Russian coach Tatiana Tarasova, who choreographed Cohen's Swan Lake program and upgraded her footwork. Under Tarasova's coaching, Cohen landed her first triple-triple combination in competition, a triple lutz-triple toe. Also, Cohen completed her first clean free skate in the qualifying round at the 2003 World Championships. She changed coaches again in January 2004 to Robin Wagner (who coached Sarah Hughes to Olympic gold) in Hackensack, New Jersey. In December 2004, Cohen returned to California to work with her original coach, John Nicks, who trained her to compete in the 2006 Olympic Winter Games. Nicks, who is very knowledgeable on the Code of Points system, helped Cohen increase the difficulty of her spins and spirals, as well as her jumps, to maximize her performances under the new system. She also worked with different people for some tips on bowing at the end of competition.
Skating trademarks
Cohen performs an I-spin
Cohen is known for being a talented skater, though her critics say she has never skated two clean programs in a row. Her supporters credit her spiral positions as the best in the skating world due to incredibly flexed positions. She is the first skater to have received +3s for spirals in the new judging system for 'Grade of Execution.' She is also known for difficult and creative positions in her spins, such as the "I" spin position which she popularized, and is also sometimes called the "Sasha spin."
Acting career
Television
Cohen has done commercials for Citizen Watch, Simply Saline, and Got Milk?. She appeared in Episode 7 of the second season of Project Runway wherein designers were challenged to design a skating dress for her. The winning dress (by Zulema Griffin) did not fit and the dress had to be resized. Cohen has made a brief appearance guest starring, as herself, on the May 5, 2006, episode of the NBC Drama, Las Vegas. Cohen has also appeared in the television crime drama CSI:NY. In April 2008, she appeared as a contortionist on the premiere episode of Secret Talents of the Stars and advanced to the semifinals, although the show was cancelled before she could perform again.
Film
Cohen played Fiona Hughes in the Don Johnson movie Moondance Alexander. At the 2006 Academy Awards, Cohen served as a guest correspondent for Inside Edition. This experience led to an encounter with Ben Stiller and a discussion about having a part in a future comedy about figure skating, which Cohen said she would enjoy. In 2007, she appeared as herself in Blades of Glory (film). Later that year, she also had a role in Bratz: The Movie.
Competitive highlights
| Event | 1997-1998 | 1998-1999 | 1999-2000 | 2000-2001 | 2001-2002 | 2002-2003 | 2003-2004 | 2004-2005 | 2005-2006 |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Winter Olympic Games | 4th | 2nd | |||||||
| World Championships | 4th | 4th | 2nd | 2nd | 3rd | ||||
| World Junior Championships | 6th | ||||||||
| U.S. Championships | 6th N. | 2nd J. | 2nd | WD | 2nd | 3rd | 2nd | 2nd | 1st |
| 2003 Grand Prix Final Champion | 1st | 2nd | |||||||
| Trophee Eric Bompard | 3rd | 1st | 1st | 2nd | |||||
| Skate Canada | 1st | 1st | |||||||
| Skate America | 5th | 1st | |||||||
| Cup of Russia | 4th | 2nd | |||||||
| Nations Cup | 5th | ||||||||
| Finlandia Trophy | 1st | ||||||||
| Junior Grand Prix, Sweden | 1st | ||||||||
| Gardena Spring Trophy | 1st J. | ||||||||
| Pacific Coast Sectionals | 2nd N. | 1st J. | 1st | ||||||
| Southwest Pacific Regionals | 2nd N. | 1st J. |
- N = Novice level; J = Junior level; WD = Withdrew
Detailed placements by season
| Major events (senior) | ||||||||||||||||
| ISU Grand Prix Finals | National Championships | Four Continents Championships | World Championships | Olympic Games | ||||||||||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Seasons | SP | FS | Finish | SP | FS | Finish | SP | FS | Finish | QF | SP | FS | Finish | SP | FS | Finish |
| 2005–06 | DNQ | 1 | 1 | 1st | - | 3 | 1 | 4 | 3rd | 1 | 2 | 2nd | ||||
| 65.15 | 134.03 | 199.18 | 27.59 | 66.62 | 114.67 | 208.88 | 66.73 | 116.63 | 183.36 | |||||||
| 2004–05 | DNQ | 2 | 2 | 2nd | - | 1 | 2 | 2 | 2nd | - | ||||||
| 28.41 | 61.37 | 124.61 | 214.39 | |||||||||||||
| 2003–04 | 2 | 2 | 2nd | 1 | 2 | 2nd | - | 1 | 1 | 3 | 2nd | - | ||||
| 60.80 | 116.68 | 177.48 | ||||||||||||||
| 2002-03 | 1 | 2/1 | 1st | 2 | 3 | 3rd | - | 3 | 5T | 3 | 4th | - | ||||
| 2001-02 | DNQ | 2 | 2 | 2nd | - | 2 | 5 | 4 | 4th | 3 | 4 | 4th | ||||
| 2000-01 | DNQ | W/D | - | - | - | |||||||||||
| 1999-00 | DNQ | 1 | 2 | 2nd | - | - | - | |||||||||
| 2005–06 ISU Grand Prix | |||
| Events | SP | FS | Finish |
| Skate America | W/D | ||
| Trophée Eric Bompard | 2 | 2 | 2nd |
| 60.96 | 114.16 | 175.12 | |
| Grand Prix Final | DNQ | ||
2006
| Competition Results | |||
| Event | Location | Finish | |
| U.S. National Championships | St. Louis, Missouri | 1st | |
| 2006 Olympic silver medalist | Turin, | 2nd | |
| World Championships | Calgary, | 3rd | |
- Cohen withdrew from the 2004-05 Grand Prix season due to injury.
2005
| Competition Results | |||
| Event | Location | Finish | |
| U.S. National Championships | Portland, Oregon | 2nd | |
| World Championships | Moscow, | 2nd | |
| 2003–04 ISU Grand Prix | |||
| Events | SP | FS | Finish |
| Skate America | 1 | 1 | 1st |
| 66.46 | 130.89 | 197.35 | |
| Skate Canada | 1 | 1 | 1st |
| 71.12 | 126.48 | 197.60 | |
| Trophée Lalique | 1 | 1 | 1st |
| 69.38 | 127.81 | 197.19 | |
| Grand Prix Final | 2 | 2 | 2nd |
| 60.80 | 116.68 | 177.48 | |
2004
| Competition Results | |||
| Event | Location | Finish | |
| U.S. National Championships | Atlanta, Georgia (U.S. state) | 2nd | |
| World Championships | Dortmund, | 2nd | |
| 2002–03 ISU Grand Prix | ||||
| Events | SP | FS | FS2 | Finish |
| Skate Canada | 1 | 1 | - | 1st |
| Trophée Lalique | 2 | 1 | - | 1st |
| Cup of Russia | 2 | 2 | - | 2nd |
| Grand Prix Final | 1 | 2 | 1 | 1st |
- Note: Event in italics indicate a non-scoring event.
2003
| Competition Results | |||
| Event | Location | Finish | |
| U.S. National Championships | Dallas, Texas | 3rd | |
| World Championships | Washington D.C., |
4th | |
| 2001–02 ISU Grand Prix | |||
| Events | SP | FS | Finish |
| Skate America | 4 | 5 | 5th |
| Trophée Lalique | 3 | 3 | 3rd |
| Grand Prix Final | DNQ | ||
2002
| Competition Results | |||
| Event | Location | Finish | |
| U.S. National Championships | Los Angeles, California | 2nd | |
| 2002 Winter Olympics | Salt Lake City, | 4th | |
| World Championships | Nagano, | 4th | |
- 2001: Goodwill Games - 4th, Finlandia Trophy - 1st
- 2000: U.S. Championships - 2nd, World Junior Championships - 6th, Cup of Russia - 4th
- 1999: U.S. Championships, Junior - 2nd
Legend
- DNQ
- Did not qualify
- W/D
- Withdrew
References
- Cohen, Sasha. (2006). Fire on Ice (Revised Edition): Autobiography of a Champion Figure Skater. Collins. ISBN 0-06-115385-0
- Winter Olympics scores
- World Championships scores
- ISU Grand Prix Finals
- United States Nationals scores