Nagano May Be Quad City for Men

Another national figure skating championship for Todd Eldredge?

That’s what, five of them now, one short of a six-pack?

Try telling us something new.

All right, how about this:

As of Thursday night, you won’t have Todd No Quad to kick around any more.

For the first time in a career distinguished by methodical professionalism and playing it close to the vest buttoned outside the puffy shirt, Eldredge boldly stepped forward and tried a quadruple jump during the men’s long program portion of the U.S. Figure Skating Championships.

It wasn’t a successful quad--Eldredge completed the four revolutions in the air, but landed on the seat of his britches.

But the very effort was unprecedented for Eldredge, whose general approach to international figure skating has been: Keep it clean, keep it safe.

And while Elvis Stojko was popping quads north of the border, with American countryman Michael Weiss braving uncharted territory with an audacious crack at a quadruple lutz, Eldredge was in danger of ending his amateur career in Nagano forever known as the Skater Who Wouldn’t Dare.

So what got into Eldredge on Thursday night?

“My legs just felt really good today,” Eldredge said. “So I felt, ‘Why not?’ ”

Eldredge’s coach, Richard Callaghan, has long provided the curmudgeon’s voice in the to-quad-or-not-to-quad debate, insisting that a skater should be judged on his total repertoire, not one sensational, crowd-pleasing skywalk above the ice.

But this time, Callaghan granted his consent, if only to change the tone of upcoming pre-Nagano interviews.

“We decided to give it a try,” Callaghan said with a grin, “so people would quit asking, ‘So when are you going to do it?’ ”

Eldredge tried a quadruple toe loop, a maneuver first landed successfully by Canada’s Kurt Browning at the 1988 World Championships and since equaled by a handful of elite male skaters. Moments after Eldredge’s failed effort, Weiss took off on a quadruple lutz--a considerably more difficult jump previously untried by anyone in competition.

Weiss landed it too, but on two feet, eliminating the attempt from any mention in the record book.

“It was an excellent attempt,” said Bill Fitzpatrick, chief referee at these U.S. championships. “He made it around, but landed it with two feet. Therefore, it will not go down as a successful jump.”

Weiss, who finished second to Eldredge and earned the final men’s singles berth on the U.S. Olympic figure skating team, did not protest.

“I felt I landed it,” Weiss said, “but I knew it was flawed. The second foot did touch down.”

According to his coach, Audrey Weisiger, Weiss regularly pulls off the simpler quadruple toe loop in practice while converting “about 20%” of his quadruple-lutz attempts.

No American has completed a successful quad of any kind in competition, so why didn’t Weiss opt for the toe loop and the surer path to history?

“A lot of people have tried the quad-toe,” Weiss said. “I felt the quad-lutz was something more--and at the Olympics, you’ll need something more.”

Weisiger said she “admired” Weiss for taking the gamble.

“He wanted to progress further,” Weisiger said. “I admire that. Nobody’s ever attempted it--it’s so hard a jump. He’s very courageous. He’s got that mind-set.

“I don’t look at it as a chance at failure. I look at it as a chance to do something positive.”

Weiss’ total program featured six triple jumps besides the attempted quad-lutz, compared to Eldredge’s program of six triples and one fall. Many among the CoreStates Center audience of 7,497 felt Weiss outskated Eldredge, booing loudly when Weiss received only two artistic scores of 5.9.

Eldredge received six artistic marks of 5.9, along with three 5.8s, enabling to hold on for his fifth U.S. title--giving him one more than Brian Boitano and Scott Hamilton.

“It took me longer than the other guys,” said Eldredge, who won his first championship in 1990. “It shows perseverance on my part. I hung in for a long time.”

Next stop, Nagano, where Eldredge will try to improve on his 10th-place showing in his only previous Olympic appearance, in 1992, and Weiss will take another stab at the quadruple lutz.

“I think whoever wins in Nagano will do a quad,” Weisiger predicted. “Maybe it will be Michael Weiss.”