DALLAS -- After 12 appearances at the U.S. figure skating championships, Michelle Kwan showed she isn't about to write the final chapter on her skating life.

She added to her laurels by winning her seventh women's title on Saturday, more than any U.S. woman except Maribel Vinson Owen, who won the last of her nine in 1928.

Yet, it gets harder and harder to stay on top, her father, Danny, said afterward. The competition is tougher, especially in the United States. The tricks are harder. The tension is worse. "You think a world championship is hard?" Danny said. "Try this."

Kwan won with a sublime performance that could not be touched by Olympic champion Sarah Hughes. She landed six triples, but that didn't tell the whole story. The perfect mark of 6.0 given by one judge for presentation spoke volumes. It was her 28th at a U.S. championships, and it was clear that Kwan still had the magic to make a crowd of 11,300 rise to their feet and scream as soon as she showed up and then scream again as soon as she finished, throwing her graceful arms into the air, nearly in tears with joy. No other skater all week drew such admiration or such a crowd.

Hughes won the silver medal, while Sasha Cohen, a two-time U.S. silver medalist, won the bronze.

Hughes fought bravely to regain her footing after remaining idle because of an injury in the fall and also from requests for her attention in the months after her stunning Olympic win.

Kwan toiled quietly, picked up a Grand Prix assignment at Skate America last October when Hughes had to withdraw because of injury, won it, qualified for the Grand Prix Final in March (she hadn't decided whether she will go) and then pondered whether she would give the U.S. nationals a try. Although it seems that she's been out of touch, she's been working diligently all the time. "I haven't been on the couch eating potato chips or anything," she said.

Kwan was so carried away by the swell of the crowd on Saturday that she didn't bother to include a planned triple toe loop at the end of her routine and just decided to throw her whole heart into a footwork sequence. It was enough. She won the hearts of all nine judges.

"The last two minutes I just let it all go, every ounce," she said. "I just skated my heart out. It felt great. Nothing was holding me back. It was incredible. I felt so alive."

She said that even had she won the gold medal at the Salt Lake Olympics, she would have found it difficult to turn professional. A couple of years of competitive angst remain, she said.

"She magnificently restated her ability," Olympic champion Dick Button said after Kwan won the short program, but he may as well have been talking about all of her work last week. "She showed energy and attack and charisma and excitement, and it was just a magnificent performance. And it really reaffirmed her iconic status in this sport."

Hughes landed only five triples and missed her trademark triple Salchow and triple loop combination, although she had landed many in practice. She managed a triple Salchow and left it at that. Her triple Lutz and double toe loop combination was not picture perfect. One judge placed Cohen ahead of her.

Cohen, who competed in three Grand Prix events and was the hot skater going into the event, faltered and was close to tears afterward. "I had a good strong first half and I was kind of disappointed with the end," she said. "Now I'm just kind of thinking about it. It wasn't the ending that I wanted, so I'm disappointed. . . . I should have done it. I wish I could go out and do it again, but I can't."

Cohen, who is so flexible she could make Gumby envious, made a miscue from the beginning, landing the second part of an ambitious triple Lutz and triple toe loop combination on two feet. She later fell on a triple toe loop that was to have ended with a half-loop jump into a triple Salchow. Because the triple Salchow went missing, she rallied and stuck one on at the end.

"I wasn't that tired," Cohen said. "I felt good going through it and I just was not strong enough, especially with the toe loop. I could have done it. . . . I guess I wasn't focused enough on that."

There were plenty of other stellar performances in the talent-packed women's event. Ann Patrice McDonough, 17, was at her best and got a standing ovation for landing six triples with aplomb. Her marks were soundly booed by the large crowd of 11,300, especially when one judge gave her a mark as low as 5.2 for technique. The rest ranged from 5.5 to 5.8.

McDonough looked visibly disappointed after her fourth-place finish, but she has earned a trip to the Four Continents championships in Beijing from Feb. 10 to 16 and is the first alternate for the world championships in Washington from March 24 to 30.

Another bright light was Jennifer Kirk, who landed a triple toe loop and triple toe loop combination, something she tried for the first time since last year. She missed her triple flip and Lutz, and ended fifth overall.

Beatrisa Liang, 14, finished seventh with five triples. Her difficult triple Lutz and triple loop is believed to be a first among U.S. women.

Angela Nikodinov, a two-time U.S. bronze medalist, withdrew from the event after an 11th-place finish in the short program. She said she was suffering from a right shoulder injury that had bothered her earlier in the season. She missed the Grand Prix series because of the injury.