Broadmoor skating coach: Flatt will reach Olympics

Sasha Cohen is back, with more experience than any woman in lean times for U.S. Figure Skating, and Tom Zakrajsek’s money still is riding on Rachael Flatt.

The Broadmoor Skating Club coach believes his star pupil will make the 2010 Olympics despite a hyped return by Cohen, the 2006 Olympic silver medalist prepared to punch one of two American tickets to Vancouver.

“Sasha hasn’t competed in how many years?” Zakrajsek said while readying Flatt for the Golden West Championships next month in Culver City, Calif. “The sport has changed since the last Olympics. Sasha has to meet the competitive demands these girls have been meeting for the (three) years Sasha has been out.”

Cohen, 24, last competed in 2006, when a subpar free skate spoiled her bid for Olympic gold. Since then, Cohen, a two-time world runner-up with 15 senior-level international medals, has remained in the spotlight through figure skating tours and an acting career.

She’ll debut at Trophee Eric Bompard in October in Paris, and she’s scheduled to appear at Skate America in November in Lake Placid, N.Y., with Flatt, whose coming-out party last year was capped by a fifth-place finish at the world championships.

Zakrajsek said, “We’re trying to be the national champion. That would guarantee her spot in the Olympics. … We want to be the very best.”