QUADRUPLING THE ODDS

For U.S. men’s figure skating, the Olympic outlook for the future just went from bad to worse.

With only one medal to show for the last three Olympic Games--Paul Wylie’s silver in 1992--the Americans are now confronted with the possibility of the International Skating Union increasing the degree of difficulty by adding the quadruple jump to the Olympic short program.

Right now, the eight required elements for the men’s short program include a double axel, a triple jump alone and a triple jump in combination. The ISU is considering giving skaters an option on the solo jump: either a triple or a quad.

The Europeans are lengths ahead of the Americans in the four-revolution revolution; no U.S. skater has ever cleanly landed a quadruple jump in competition. Russians Ilia Kulik and Alexei Yagudin pull off quads with regularity; Kulik and Guo Zhengxin of China cleanly landed them in Saturday’s long program here.

The ISU congress will vote on the quad proposal in June.