And the winner is....

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France’s Brian Joubert hit one quadruple jump* but fell on his triple axel and near the end took a header on a triple salchow, so those big quads weren’t enough.

It means hometown favorite Evan Lysacek won the 2009 men’s world figure skating championship Thursday night at Staples Center with a score of 242.23. Lysacek didn’t attempt a quadruple jump, something he said he might do. The decision paid off when the feisty Joubert did the hard stuff but couldn’t keep his energy and emotions well enough to do the easier stuff. Lysacek skated carefully but elegantly to his ‘Rhapsody in Blue’ music and had no ugly falls or clumsy stumbles.

Joubert finished third, behind Canada’s Patrick Chan.

-- Diane Pucin

* An earlier version of this post had Joubert hitting two quads, but he hit only one.