Continued with the figure skating marathon. What amazed me watching year and after year of national championships was the ebb and flow of careers. A skater like Scott Davis comes into the nationals, skates in 4th or 5th place for a couple of years, gets his bearings and wins two national titles back to back, and then kind of loses it in successive years scoring progressively lower in successive years. Saw this kind of dynamic happen year after year in both the men's and women's events. Truly gifted skaters like Michelle Kwan maintained a level of excellence over a long, long period, but for most, it seems a couple of years at the top is all they usually can muster.