Spotless Routine Makes Eldredge the Clear Leader

Tradition took a pratfall Tuesday night at the U.S. Figure Skating championships as Todd Eldredge and Michael Weiss skated short programs lacking essential elements--much to their own personal satisfaction and relief.

What are the Olympic trials without Eldredge reeling or keeling, his brow flopping with sweat from a 104-degree fever or his lower back throbbing with dagger-like sensations on every jump?

And what’s a U.S. national championship without Weiss falling flat on the ice at least once during his short program?

Wondrous, happy times, if you put the questions to Eldredge and Weiss.

For the first time in three attempts to qualify for the Olympics, Eldredge, the four-time U.S. titlist, isn’t stricken with flu or a bad back--and it showed demonstrably Tuesday, with Eldredge ending a near-flawless short program to a standing ovation from a smallish crowd of 5,425 at the CoreStates Center.

“It’s great to finally be healthy,” Eldredge said after amassing four scores of 5.9 and none lower than 5.8 en route to first place in the short program.

And then, reflecting back on the calamities of ’92 and ‘94, he laughed.

“Hopefully,” he added, “nothing will happen between today and [the long program] Thursday.”

Weiss, meanwhile, shattered a long-running mental block by completing his first clean short program in five tries--dating to 1994--at the nationals.

No falls, no stumbles, only a slight wobble as he landed the second jump of a triple axel-triple toe combination--straining as he leaned forward to hold on.

“It wasn’t a huge, monumental moment,” Weiss said, “but it gives me a lot of confidence, to do this well when I was slightly off.”

Weiss received the second-best set of scores of the night--5.6 to 5.8 for presentation and only one mark lower than 5.6 for required elements.

Third place, much to his own amazement, belongs to Scott Davis, who botched two of his first three jumps--turning a triple toe loop into a double and a triple lutz into a single.

“Fortunate is a good word for it,” Davis said of his current standing. “Any time you miss a major element like that, you’ve got to be pretty lucky to be in third.”

Third, however, won’t be good enough to any U.S. man attempting to qualify here for the Olympic team.

Because of a lackluster showing at the most recent world championships, the United States earned only two berths in the men’s 1998 Olympic field instead of the maximum three. Eldredge placed second at the 1997 world championships, but Weiss was seventh and Don Hollander 18th--resulting in a cumulative point total too low to qualify for three Olympic berths.

Hollander blew another gasket Tuesday, stepping out of a triple toe loop and failing to complete the required double axel, dropping all the way to seventh place.

Eldredge is halfway to a fifth U.S. championship--which would give him one more than either Scott Hamilton or Brian Boitano--and the first Olympic berth he actually earned on the ice.

In 1992, Eldredge withdrew from the trials because of a bad back, but received an injury-waiver wild card to compete at Albertville, where he finished 10th.

In 1994, trying to skate through a siege of flu and a 104-degree temperature, Eldredge placed fourth and failed to make the U.S. team.

Through November, it appeared that Eldredge might be due for more of the same, struggling with a variety of ailments ranging from a separated shoulder to strained rib muscles. But this week, Eldredge has declared himself fit--and his performance Tuesday was convincing, easily the best of the evening.

Dressed in all black, save for a band of gold wrapped around his collar, Eldredge hit his first element--the triple axel-triple toe combination--and seemed to build on that early momentum, growing stronger as his program progressed.

“The mental toughness was there to do a clean program again,” Eldredge said. “To skate like I did tonight is going to help my mind-set going into the Olympics. If you’re doing clean short programs all year, your mind-set and your confidence are higher.”

Weiss already was looking ahead to Thursday’s long program, in which he plans to try a quadruple lutz. If successful, Weiss would be the first American to land a quad in competition.

It’s a gamble, but one Weiss figures he cannot refuse to take.

“With Todd being national champion four times,” he said, “I have to try something extra to try and sneak in.”