MEN’S SINGLES

STORYLINE: Lost in the uproar over Ilia Kulick’s costume and the rivalry between Elvis Stojko of Canada and Todd Eldredge of the United States is Michael Weiss’ attempt to become the first person to land a quadruple lutz. The American lands the quad lutz cleanly only about 10% of the time in practice. He’s counting on the adrenaline of the competition to help him nail the jump in Nagano and raise the bar for the entire sport.

HOW THEY STAND

after the short program (factored placings):

1. Ilia Kulick, Russia: 0.5

2. Elvis Stojko, Canada: 1.0

3. Todd Eldredge, Chatham, Mass.: 1.5

4. Alexi Yagudin, Russia: 2.0

5. Philippe Candeloro, France: 2.5

6. Stephen Cousins, Britain: 3.0

7. Ivan Dinex, Bulgaria: 3.5

8. Dmitry Dmitrenko, Ukraine: 4.0

9. Michael Tyllesen, Denmark: 4.5

10. Guo Zhengxin, China: 5.0

11. Michael Weiss, Fairfax, Va.: 5.5

TAKING FLIGHT: Michael Weiss might become the first person to land a quadruple lutz. A look at how Olympic men’s figure skating jumps have progressed:

1908: Gold-medal winner Ulrich Salchow unveils the jump named after him, the salchow. 1948: Gold-medal winner Dick Button performs the double axel.

1952: Gold-medal winner Dick Button performs triple loop.

1956: Silver-medal winner Ronnie Robertson revolved 240 times a minute in a spin move, the fastest ever.

1976: American Terry Kubicka is the first to perform a backflip during competition. The backflip was banned after the Olympics.

1992: Bronze-medal winner Petr Barna becomes the first to perform a quadruple jump.

IN QUOTES: “I think we’re maxing out in terms of what the physical body can do. I don’t know that there will ever be five rotations.”

--Michael Weiss