Kimmie leads after short program

Posted on Friday, January 26th, 2007 at 1:11 am

One more night like this, and Kimmie Meissner should have a national title to go with her world championship.

Meissner skated a clean yet uninspiring short program Thursday night that was enough to give her the early lead in the U.S. Figure Skating Championships. There were still 11 skaters to go, including Bebe Liang and Alissa Czisny, but her main competition of Emily Hughes had already skated.

“I heard the crowd’s reaction, so I knew (Emily) skated good. That was good. More competition,” said Meissner, who skated immediately after her fellow Olympian. “Having Emily skate well was good for me, because it motivated me to want to do my best.”

Meissner’s score of 65.69 points gave her a comfortable lead over Hughes, who was in second place with 62.32 points.