NEW YORK - Two weeks before the national championships, Sasha Cohen is switching coaches. With Tatiana Tarasova ill, Cohen has signed Robin Wagner, who guided Sarah Hughes to gold at the Salt Lake City Olympics.
"I have known and respected Robin for a long time and am very excited to be working with her," Cohen said Wednesday.
Cohen was having a superb season before her last two events, when a series of falls saw her finish behind Michelle Kwan in an invitational competition, then behind Fumie Suguri in the Grand Prix finals. In 2002, Cohen won the Grand Prix overall crown and two other events. This year she won three Grand Prix series competitions.
After Cohen performed poorly at the invitational in Auburn Hills, Mich., there were reports she and Tarasova argued over whether Cohen should have competed. Cohen joined with Tarasova in early 2002, when she moved from California to Connecticut.
"I am grateful for everything that Tatiana has done for me, both personally and for my skating," she said.
HORSE RACING: Favorite returns for Malibu Stakes
Buddy Gil, making his first start since finishing sixth in the Kentucky Derby, heads a field of 13 entered in Friday's $250,000 Malibu Stakes. The seven-furlong race for 3-year-olds is one of three stakes events on opening day at Santa Anita. Buddy Gil will be ridden by Gary Stevens. Buddy Gil, a Kentucky-bred son of Eastern Echo, has won five of 10 career starts including the Santa Anita Derby and San Felipe Stakes at Santa Anita this year.
AUTOS: Event might be a target for terrorism
The inaugural Bahrain Grand Prix, the third round of the Formula One schedule, may be a terrorist target, the British government said. Bahrain faces a "high threat from terrorism," a Foreign & Commonwealth Office spokesman told Bloomberg News on condition of anonymity. The government is "particularly concerned about potential threats to places where Westerners might gather." Formula One Management is seeking new venues in Asia and Latin America as audiences fall, and Bahrain and Shanghai have been added. But information was received about a terrorist threat "specific to Bahrain," the U.S. State Department said. NEW DRIVERS: Zsolt Baumgartner of Hungary will drive with the European Minardi Cosworth team in the 2004 World Formula One championship. Baumgartner joins Italian Gianmaria Bruni in Minardi's lineup, both in their first full season in Formula One. Baumgartner and Bruni replace Jos Verstappen and Nicolas Kiesa. The announcement came after the Hungarian government said Monday it would spend $4-million to support Baumgartner's.
SOCCER: A bidding war begins for forward
Liverpool will compete with Manchester United to sign Fulham striker Louis Saha. Fulham rebuffed interest from United and other clubs for the 25-year-old forward, who scored 10 goals in 17 games this season. United offered $9.7-million. Liverpool may bid almost twice as much.
