American Lysacek strong challenger for skating gold
U.S. figure skater Evan Lysacek, left, is watched by coach Frank Carroll during a practice session at the Vancouver Olympics on Wednesday. Lysacek competes in the men's free skate Thursday night. (Feb. 17, 2010) Credit: AP
VANCOUVER, British Columbia - OK, guys, let's see what you've got.
If the short program is an accurate indication, what Evgeni Plushenko, Evan Lysacek and Daisuke Takahashi have is the goods to grab gold.
"The truth is, 90 is a pretty darn good score in the short and if one guy had a 90, it's great. It shows the depth of this competition that three guys got 90," Lysacek said Wednesday. "It's pretty impressive and shows the quality of the competition."
It also shows how the top three have broken away from the rest of a strong field. Reigning Olympic champion Plushenko of Russia has 90.85 points going into tonight's men's final, .55 ahead of Lysacek, the current world champ from the United States. Japan's Takahashi is .05 behind Lysacek.
Takahashi has a 5.40-point edge on countryman Nobunari Oda, with Turin silver medalist Stephane Lambiel of Switzerland another .22 back. Even Johnny Weir, a three-time U.S. champion in sixth place, and Canadian hope Patrick Chan (seventh after the short) believe they could win a medal.
Bronze, perhaps.
The gold rush is almost certainly between Plushenko, trying to become the first repeat winner since Dick Button in 1952; Lysacek, seeking to be the first American man to top the figure skating medals podium since Brian Boitano in 1988; and Takahashi.
"If all three skate well, and pretty much all are at the same level, it means needing a perfect performance to win," Button said. "I think they will separate themselves, and that usually means someone makes mistakes. They will write their own tickets."
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