Michael Dwyer / AP file

Michelle Kwan was granted a spot on the United States figure skating roster despite not competing in the U.S. Figure Skating Championships this week.

She’s a breathtaking mix of athleticism, grace and beauty. But she didn’t always have the psyche to match, finishing second twice at the world championships and four times — all to Kwan — at nationals. At the 2002 Olympics, she was third after the short program but dropped to fourth overall.

Trying to find some solution, Cohen left longtime coach John Nicks and her Southern California home for the East Coast in 2002, training first with Tatiana Tarasova and then Robin Wagner. But the change in scenery didn’t change her results.

It wasn’t until she returned home in December 2004 and reunited with Nicks that Cohen discovered she’d had what she needed all along right inside of her. She began focusing more on her training and performance than the final placement, and the difference is plain to see.

Though she missed three days of practice after coming down with the flu last weekend and was clearly exhausted at the end of her 4-minute program to “Romeo and Juliet,” Cohen was a pure delight Saturday night.

“I have not done this version in competition and I haven’t done this run-through since last Friday,” Cohen said. “It’s been eight days so I said, ‘OK, let’s see what happens.”’

She tried seven triples, two in combination. But it’s her presentation that sets her apart. She doesn’t skate so much as float, and her expressions told of all the pain and heartache that Juliet felt.

When she spins, she looks like that ballerina in the music box. And when she did her spiral sequence, about 30 seconds of skating on one leg, the other held high above her head, the audience gasped in delight.

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Her only mistakes were step outs on a triple toe loop jump and triple salchow, both minor. Especially since she was the only woman in the last warmup to complete her program without taking a spill on the ice.

“Every year, I always kind of left nationals a bit disappointed, not where I wanted to finish,” Cohen said. “This nationals didn’t start off too well, but I am able to go home and now prepare for Torino. It feels nice.”