Yamaguchi, she had a higher success rate on toe-assisted jumps, which appeared to be easier for Kwiatkowski; she frequently struggled on the edge-entrance triple loop, and only added the triple salchow back into her performance repertoire near the end of her amateur skating career. Her spins were fast with clean positions, and her basic skating quality was marked by great speed. As she matured and as fashions in the sport changed, so did Kwiatkowski's image. By the mid-1990s, she often selected a tight, low bun as an on-ice hairstyle, coupled with extremely elegant dresses with highly detailed beading and design details. During her prime competitive years in the mid-1990s, her adult physique and mode of dress distinguished her from most of her "baby ballerina" (a term frequently used by Dick Button in commentary for the U.S. Nationals as televised on ABC) rivals, who were typically 5 to 10 years her junior and usually did not attempt the mature look that Kwiatkowski achieved. This did not go unnoticed by the press, as evidenced by an AP article dated April 5, 1998, noting of Kwiatkowski's World Championship performances that "...her spins were lovely, and her age gives her a grace few other skaters can match." 1993 season After several strong finishes at the U.S. Nationals, Kwiatkowski made the World Championship team in 1993, an unusual year in figure skating: it was a post-Olympic year and pre-Olympic year, as the Winter Games were being switched to a different cycle so that they occurred two years after the Summer Games. As such, a number of 1992 Olympic hopefuls had moved on. Typically a "rebuilding" year for the sport, this post-Olympic year was different, as the U.S.'s number of Olympic berths would be determined by skaters' performances at the 1993 World Championships. The pressure was on to send a team that could medal at Worlds and secure a full slot of Olympic berths. At these critical national championships, Kwiatkowski stood fourth after the short program. When Tonya Harding, reaching the nadir of a two-year skating slump, fell several times in her long program (after having placed second in the short program, during which her dress had come undone), and third-place Nicole Bobek struggled by also making several mistakes, fourth-place Kwiatkowski had a shot to move up onto the podium and onto the World team. With a sub-par performance, she managed to move up to third,