Lysacek skates to another title

ST. PAUL, Minn. -- Evan Lysacek was stiff. Johnny Weir was conservative, at least on the elements he attempted in his program. Both had several flawed jumps.

The only compelling part about their free skates Sunday at the U.S. Championships was the contrast in their styles: sport versus theater.

But the competition between them was as good as it gets.

It ended with them tied in total points at 244.77.

So Lysacek won a second straight U.S. title because he had the higher score in the free skate. Stephen Carriere, 18, the reigning junior world champion, was third.

“I had to fight for almost everything,” Lysacek said.

If Weir had a little more fight, he could have been champion for a fourth time.

Maybe that was too much to expect of a man skating in an outfit he called a “sparkly onesie,” with a top that had an off-the-collar neckline and a plunging back line tied together with what looked like corset straps.

Weir, 23, left out two planned double jumps, elements as uncomplicated as breathing to an elite skater. Either would have given him enough points to win.

“First place, second place, last place, I’m just happy with the way I skated today,” Weir said. “I was so nervous, and it’s fantastic vindication to know I came back and didn’t completely fall apart. . . . I feel like a winner.”

A year ago, he went to pieces in the free skate as Lysacek, 22, delivered one of the most electric performances in the meet’s history. This time, Weir blubbered for joy after he finished.

“There was so much pressure on me to come back strong and not have any major issues, not make anyone angry, not make anyone sad, just to be a good skater again,” Weir said.

Lysacek felt different pressure -- the burden of defending the title. It nearly overwhelmed him in Friday’s short program, which Weir won by 1.35 points.

“Last year, I was excited to climb to the top of the mountain I had been working toward so long,” Lysacek said. “This year, it is more of just relief.”

Not surprisingly, Lysacek built his winning margin in the free skate on the technical scores. Ironically, the difference in quality and difficulty of their straight-line footwork gave Lysacek 2.01 points more than Weir, whose more developed artistry sense should have given him an advantage.

Each opened with a quadruple jump that ended in a two-footed landing. The triple Lysacek tacked on after his quad did not count as a combination because of a turn between the jumps, but Weir did not even attempt a quad combination and later two-footed another landing.

Lysacek scored points with the complicated approaches to his jumps and gave them back with sloppy landings. Weir’s entries were less interesting but his jumps much cleaner.

“Evan fought through it and hung onto stuff,” six-time U.S. champion Todd Eldredge said. “Johnny was slower and more calculated, but the quality of different things he did was great.”

They may have hugged in a hallway after the competition ended, but their relationship is far from friendship.

Lysacek indicated that indirectly last year (“If I have a chance to represent my sport, I wouldn’t take it lightly”) and Weir said it pointedly in a Chicago Tribune story last week (“I can like something in someone’s skating and not like them as a person”) and in an NBC interview aired Sunday.

“I think he is a great skater,” Lysacek said. “He has pushed me, and I would like to think I have pushed him. I’m not going to say anything bad about him.”

Both should be medal contenders at the March world championships, especially given the inconsistent skating by all the leading skaters this season.

“Put any of the world’s top skaters in that event today, and they would have had a hard time beating either of us,” Lysacek said.

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Philip Hersh covers Olympic sports for the Times and the Chicago Tribune.