ichael Weiss had stolen enough glimpses at the backstage monitors to know what had already happened. Todd Eldredge had doubled his quadruple jump. Tim Goebel had staggered out of his triple axel and wobbled out of his triple flip. No need to watch a full replay. ''I saw the elements I needed to see,'' Weiss concluded.
So the defending champion played it safe and sane in last night's men's short program in the US Figure Skating Championships at the FleetCenter. And when the marks went up, Weiss had a leg up on his third straight title.
''I knew I just had to skate a conservative but solid program and I'd be in first,'' said the 24-year-old Weiss, who's bidding to become the first US male since Brian Boitano (1985-88) to pull off a three-peat. ''All the way through, I knew I'd have a bigger battle [tomorrow]. I just wanted to get ready for the real deal.''
With the present and former champions, plus the heir apparent, all in the chase for only two spots on the US team for the World Championships in Vancouver in March, this figured to be the most competitive nationals since 1994, when Eldredge, Boitano, and Scott Davis knocked heads for two Olympic tickets to Lillehammer.
''Whenever you have a situation where there are more skaters than the available spots, it definitely makes it interesting for us,'' Eldredge had said. ''And interesting for the judges.''
It was the 29-year-old Eldredge's first appearance at nationals since he took a two-year sabbatical after winning his fifth title in 1998 and making his second Olympic team. He came back to an elevated bar, where a quadruple-triple combination jump is now standard for men in the short program.
Eldredge had never landed the quad-triple in competition and he probably wouldn't have needed it to be in the top three last night. But his goal is a return trip to Olympus, where he knows he'll need the quad-triple plus a couple of quads in the long program to hang with the Russians.
So he went for the quad combo right from the top last night - and popped it. ''It definitely didn't feel good when I went up,'' said Eldredge, who did only a double toe loop. ''I did two great quads in the warmup. They felt really good. Maybe I wanted it so bad that I rushed it just a hair.''
Eldredge still landed his triple axel and triple lutz jumps and displayed enough of his old elegance to earn seven 5.8 marks for artistry. That was enough to keep him ahead of the 20-year-old Goebel, who was second to Weiss last year and gunning for him again.
Last year, Weiss held off Goebel despite missing most of the season with an ankle stress fracture and despite not attempting a quadruple jump in the long program while Goebel landed three.
This year, Weiss also missed most of the season with a stress fracture of a middle toe while Goebel was still landing quads in triplicate. Still, as two-time titlist, Weiss figured he'd get the benefit of the doubt - as long as he could deliver on the ice.
He delivered enough to sweep all nine judges, who still want a complete package from their champion. And though Weiss two-footed the quadruple toe on his quad toe-triple toe combo, he nailed his triple axel and triple lutz and reaped seven 5.9 artistic marks for a program skated to music from ''Taras Bulba.''
''I knew if I landed the axel and the lutz that I'd be where I wanted to be,'' said Weiss. That's why he doubled the back end of the combination instead of tripling it. Because he remembered in midair that he didn't need it.
Goebel, who skated just before Weiss, had only done a quad salchow-double toe himself, and it gnawed at him. ''Doing a quad-triple is really easy for me,'' Goebel said. ''To just do a double is very disappointing.''
Once he did, he went into a tailspin and barely held off Trifun Zivanovic, the returning bronze medalist, for third. ''It was a disaster,'' conceded Goebel, who said that his strained landing knee wasn't a factor. ''I still did the only clean quad, but the rest of it was a mess. I'm very grateful I'm in third. I think Trifun outskated me.''
If Goebel can nail a trio of quads in tomorrow afternoon's long program, last night may not matter. The only thing that matters in the short program is surviving it. Michael Weiss learned that a long time ago. ''First, second, third,'' he said, ''are all the same.''
