Who’s No. 2? Surprise, It’s Boitano : Figure skating: Davis is upset winner as both qualify for Olympics. Victory comes after news of attack on Kerrigan.

Nothing could have stunned the crowd of approximately 8,000 Thursday night at Joe Louis Arena for the U.S. Figure Skating Championships, not after the attack earlier in the day on defending women’s champion Nancy Kerrigan by an unknown assailant, but, from a sporting perspective, 1988 Olympic gold-medalist Brian Boitano’s second-place finish in the men’s competition ranked as a stunning upset.

Although the man who beat him, Scott Davis, was the defending champion, virtually no one gave him a chance to repeat after Boitano, who maintained his stature as the world’s most complete skater even while touring as a professional for five years, took advantage of a new International Skating Union to return to the competitive arena.

But Davis, the 21-year-old son of a high school football coach from Great Falls, Mont., was extraordinary in his freestyle program, which accounts for two-thirds of the final score, as he outleaped, outspinned and, ultimately, outpointed the 30-year-old Boitano, of Sunnyvale, Calif.

Davis earned first-place scores from six judges, Boitano from the other three. Both will represent the United States in next month’s Winter Olympics in Norway. Third-place Aren Nielsen, 23, of Lakewood, Ohio, will be the alternate.

Even before Davis finished his 4 1/2-minute program, skated to music from “West Side Story,” his coach, Kathy Casey, sensed he had won, leaping into the air in anticipation.

She admitted afterward that she did not expect to be striking such a triumphant pose, not after reading the headline in a local newspaper Wednesday that asked, “Who’s No. 2?” She said she feared the judges might also have presumed Boitano No. 1. Indeed, he was after Wednesday night’s technical program, even though some experts considered the second-place Davis superior.

“We didn’t know what to expect,” she said. “We felt it would be hard. When you go on (tour) and Brian Boitano takes the ice, he gets a standing ovation before the music goes on. It makes it hard (for a judge) to sit on the hot seat and not give the Olympic champion the edge.”

Boitano, however, said that he was weighted down by the burden of being the overwhelming favorite.

“People’s expectations put a lot of pressure on you whether you care what they think or not,” he said. “I’ve never placed so much pressure on myself as I did tonight. In the warm-up, I felt I had three cups of coffee on an empty stomach. I’m so proud of myself for just getting out there and standing up.”

He did considerably more than that, cleanly landing six of the seven triple jumps he planned while skating to Aaron Copeland’s “Lincoln Portrait” and “Appalachian Spring.” But the jump he failed to complete, a second triple axel, proved decisive.

“I’m unhappy that I didn’t win, but I’m not disappointed,” Boitano said. “I’m disappointed that I didn’t pull that stupid second triple axel in.”

Davis also landed six triple jumps, two of them triple axels. More than that, however, he stirred the crowd, and apparently a majority of the judges, with his high-speed, high-intensity program. Boitano, in contrast, seemed languid.

“This is really similar to the way I felt when I won last year,” Davis said. “I was shocked and surprised then, and I feel the same way this year.

“Going up against Brian, he’s the one I’ve looked up to as a great athlete and performer and such a great persona. Just to compete against him didn’t seem possible.”

Last year, however, while other skaters were complaining about the new rule that allowed professional skaters to come back, Davis said he welcomed the challenge.

Now, he faces another one, competing in the Olympics.

“I think the judges are still going to look at Brian Boitano,” he said, “but I think they’ve got to look at me as well.”

Boitano said he hopes he is not still considered the favorite.

“I think this will lessen the pressure on me,” he said. “I hope.”

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In the pairs technical program earlier Thursday, Jenni Meno and Todd Sand of Costa Mesa finished first. Kyoko Ina and Jason Dungjen of Monsey, N.Y., are second, and Karen Courtland and Todd Reynolds of Newark, Del., are third. The top three after Saturday’s freestyle program will earn Olympic berths.