U.S. Skaters Add to Degree of Difficulty

Evan Lysacek is going for it.

So are Rena Inoue and John Baldwin Jr.

Lysacek, the runner-up at last month’s U.S. figure skating championships, said he had upgraded the combination jump in his short program to a quadruple-triple from a triple-triple, and that he would try a quad-triple-double combination in his long program at the Olympics. He did a triple-triple-double in his final routine at the national competition.

Increasing the difficulty of his program could significantly boost his medal chances. Lysacek, who trains in El Segundo, finished third at last year’s World Championships.

Incorporating a quadruple toe loop in each program “has been the bulk of my training since I got back from nationals,” he said this week. “I’ve been landing 85% to 90% of the quads I’ve tried and hopefully I can improve that.

“Losing the national title has given me a lot of fire.”

In winning the U.S. pairs title, Inoue and Baldwin performed a throw triple axel, believed to be the first such throw landed in any competition. Baldwin said they would also add that throw to their short program in Turin, a bold move that he said made sense for them as longshot contenders.

Inoue and Baldwin, who live in Santa Monica and train in Artesia, have finished 10th twice and 11th once in three World Championship appearances.

“This is our chance to get into the last group at the Olympics,” Baldwin said, referring to skaters who rank near the top after the short program and are among the last to perform their long program in the reverse draw.

“If we skate a clean program without a triple axel, we’ll be sixth or seventh. We want to go there and hopefully bring back a medal for the U.S. It’s going to be great to be there, but we want to make even more of a statement than we did at nationals.”

Baldwin said he and Inoue planned to travel to Turin on Saturday and would march in the opening ceremony a week from today. The pairs open the figure skating competition, the short program scheduled for Feb. 11 and the long program Feb. 13.

“The opening ceremony is definitely something we don’t want to miss,” he said. “This is Rena’s third time and she told me it’s something you don’t skip.”

Inoue competed for her native Japan in singles and pairs in 1992 and singles in 1994. Turin will be the first Games for Baldwin, 32.

Lysacek, 20, is also looking forward to his Olympic debut. He also planned to leave Saturday so he can march with the U.S. team a week from today.

“I want to be there for the entire experience,” he said. “The athletes’ village, the opening ceremony, everything. I definitely have the Olympic bug.”

Women’s world champion Irina Slutskaya of Russia plans to arrive in Turin on Feb. 18, three days before the women’s event begins. She said during a conference call with reporters Thursday that she would train in Moscow or nearby Novogorsk as long as possible because ice time was available there.

“Here at home, I will be the queen of the practice,” she said, laughing. “I can practice all I want. In Turin, I won’t have all the stuff I need.”

However, she wouldn’t disclose details of her routines.

“I don’t want to open my secrets,” she said.

Slutskaya, who will be 27 Thursday, has taken medication for vasculitis, an inflammation of the blood vessels, for several years. She also recently had the flu.

“I’m always getting sick. I’m not really healthy,” she said. “But I can skate, and that is the important thing.”

She also said she was happy to learn that her friend and rival, nine-time U.S. champion Michelle Kwan, would compete in Turin. Kwan, third behind Sarah Hughes and Slutskaya at Salt Lake City, missed the U.S. championships because of a groin pull but got a medical bye onto the Olympic team after proving her fitness to a panel of U.S. Figure Skating monitors.

“She’s a great skater and a good person, and I’m hoping she will be on the podium,” Slutskaya said. “She is a professional skater and will do everything the best she can do.”

U.S. champion Sasha Cohen will miss the opening ceremony, precluding a repeat of her star turn at the 2002 Games. President Bush was seated next to her in the stands and she impulsively handed him her cellphone and asked him to talk to her mother -- which he did.

According to Cohen’s coach, John Nicks, she will leave for Turin next Friday and stay in accommodations near the practice rink. She’ll return to town a few days before the short program.

“The training will be better up there,” Nicks said of the practice facility. “The main rink will have a lot going on.”

Kwan hasn’t decided whether to attend the opening ceremony, said her agent, Shep Goldberg. He also said she probably wouldn’t make her travel plans public for security reasons.

Kwan skipped the opening ceremony at Nagano in 1998 but marched at Salt Lake City.