Chilly rivals ready for men's skating final

The Arizona Republic
VANCOUVER - Evgeni vs. Evan.

It's not the Cold War, but there's a distinct chill in the air going into the Olympic men's figure skating free program Thursday night.

And we all know skating soap operas equal boffo ratings - Nancy vs. Tonya in 1994 and the Battle of the Brians in 1988.

American Brian Boitano and Canadian Brian Orser were virtually tied going into the free program at the Calgary Olympics. Boitano won over five of nine judges under the old 6.0 scoring system in which the last of what were three portions of the competition counted 50 percent, leaving Orser as a two-time silver medalist.

In the first Canadian Olympics since Calgary, three men are separated by no more than six-tenths of a point under a new scoring system that is a significant part of the plot.

Evan Lysacek won at the 2009 World Championships without a quad jump and doesn't plan to attempt one here.

Getting away with that is pushing the sport back in time, said Evgeni Plushenko, who retired after winning at the 2006 Olympics and returned to find the artistic side of his skating under attack.

"Skating without quad is a time before (Elvis) Stojko, before (Alexei) Urmanov," said Alexei Mishin, Plushenko's coach. "(He) who is not able to jump, don't make fake explanation because this is a shame to skate without quad when Stojko, who skated 10 years before, did it."

It's not that Lysacek is trying to make do by channeling Dick Button.

"I used to really enjoy training the quad, and I thought it was important to try in every competition," Lysacek said. "Then I broke my (left) foot, and it became less fun and more scary."

The stress fracture severely limited Lysacek's practice time for 2009 Worlds and continuing pain led to his decision with coach Frank Carroll not to train a quad for the Olympics.

Plushenko completed a quad toe/triple toe combination in the short program Tuesday and might try two quads in the free. He had a 2.8-point edge on Lysacek in total element score, which includes jumps, but trailed him by 2.25 in program components including transitions/footwork, choreography and interpretation.

Carroll has been publicly critical of Plushenko, telling the New York Times: "I'm not impressed with his skating. It's not as complicated as the judging system demands."

A U.S. international-level judge wrote an e-mail that became public questioning high transition scores Plushenko received in winning at the European Championships.

Plushenko's agent, Ari Zakarian, said Tuesday that "some people" don't want the 27-year-old Russian to become the first Olympic men's repeat champion since Button (1948 and '52).

But if Plushenko hits his jumps, especially two quads, skating to Tango Amore, then Lysacek, 24, probably can do no better than silver with his Sheherazade program. Or maybe Daisuke Takahashi, 23, who missed most of last season due to knee surgery, will win Japan's first Olympic men's title.

Lysacek will skate first in a six-man final group at Pacific Coliseum with Takahashi fourth and Plushenko last.