Goebel Is Jumping at Chance to Gain High Level of Acclaim

If Timothy Goebel continues to defy gravity and redefine what it takes to become a figure skating champion, pretty soon even casual sports fans will know who he is.

And who he isn’t.

“I get a lot of people thinking I look like [actor] Ryan Phillippe,” Goebel said. “Even if I go out shopping, clerks will stop and ask, ‘Aren’t you . . .?’ ”

At the rate he’s going, it will be easier to match his name and face with the proper occupation.

Goebel (pronounced Gable) might be the future of men’s figure skating, a phenomenal jumper striving to add that oh-so-subjective artistry that judges demand. The first U.S. skater to land a quadruple jump in competition, the first to land a quadruple-triple combination and the first to land three quadruple jumps in a program, he has upped the technical ante at the U.S. figure skating championships to a dizzying level.

Just as the performance bar is high here, so are the stakes. The United States can send only two men to the World Championships in Vancouver, Canada, in March, heightening the tension at the FleetCenter today when Goebel, two-time defending champion Michael Weiss and five-time U.S. champion Todd Eldredge perform their short programs.

Goebel, who finished second last year and third in 1999, said he isn’t nervous. After landing 25 quadruple jumps in major competitions and thousands in practice since he hit his first five years ago at 15, he has reason to be confident.

Eldredge, competing in Olympic-eligible events after a two-year absence, has landed only one quad in competition and will decide before skating whether to downgrade his planned quad to a triple. Weiss, who has landed only two certified quads in competition, plans one in his short program and one in Saturday’s long program even though he won last year without doing a quad.

“There are only 10, 15 people in the world who ever in their lives performed a quadruple jump,” Weiss said. “That phrase in itself lets you know how difficult it is. People before compared it to a four-minute mile. Now it’s an element you have to have.”

Goebel, of Rolling Meadows, Ill., does 15 to 20 quads a day, which fortified his muscle memory and enabled him to quickly regain his form after a strained knee ligament grounded him for a week early this month. He will wear a brace to support his right knee on landings.

“I know if I go and do my jumps well, I have the content to be competitive at worlds, and I’ve had a really consistent season,” said Goebel, who won Skate America last October in Colorado Springs, Colo., with a quad in his short program and three quads and six triples in his long program, and did three quads in finishing second at Nations Cup in November in Germany.

“If I make worlds, I’m a medal threat. Technically, I have a pretty sizable edge. . . . If you look at it from one perspective, if we all skate cleanly, I have enough to win. But Mike is stronger artistically and Todd is experienced and such a good competitor.”

That’s not arrogance. Only Russians Evgeni Plushenko--who does a quad-triple-double sequence--and Alexei Yagudin can land quads as often and with as much panache as Goebel.

Goebel, however, has been deficient in the spins, stroking and expressive gestures that make a program a tapestry and not strings of jumps linked by a spin or two.

That was the primary reason he left his longtime coach, Carol Heiss Jenkins, last June to train in El Segundo with the team headed by Frank Carroll, who also coaches Michelle Kwan, the four-time U.S. champion and three-time world title holder.

Carroll’s iron will and eye for detail have helped Goebel improve his posture and add depth to his skating, enhancing Goebel’s artistic scores. His work with choreographer Lori Nichol, who also works with Kwan, has also done much to change his image from a jumping machine to a skater who jumps.

Goebel said he has no animosity toward Heiss Jenkins, although they haven’t spoken since he left her Cleveland rink last March. He stays in touch with Glynn Watts, who worked with Heiss Jenkins and coached Goebel at last year’s World Championships. Goebel was injured and finished 11th.

“Try though she did, she didn’t really know how to go about improving my artistry,” Goebel said of Jenkins, the 1960 women’s Olympic gold medalist. “Glynn’s hands were tied because she was in charge, so he has to sort of stand back. That made it difficult.

“Obviously, she was a good jump coach. I had a lot of success there and I had a lot of good times there. I just needed a different perspective, to sort of start fresh.”

Heiss Jenkins has repeatedly declined to elaborate publicly about Goebel’s switch.

Carroll’s influence was obvious at Skate America, where Goebel defeated Yagudin and Eldredge.

Goebel considered Skate America a turning point.

“It was really an emergence because it wasn’t that I did the jumps. I skated programs and I skated them well,” he said. “I think especially the U.S. judges started to take me seriously. In four months, I had made a lot of progress.”

With a bit more to go.

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Sasha Cohen of Laguna Niguel, hampered by a broken vertebra, withdrew. Cohen was the 2000 runner-up. Neither she nor her coach, John Nicks, would comment Wednesday. The women’s competition begins Friday.

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Danielle and Steve Hartsell, whose practice fall Tuesday sent Steve to the hospital with a 12-stitch scalp wound, won the pairs short program Wednesday with a clean and spirited routine they ended with a relieved embrace.

“As soon as we got back the CT scan results and they were negative, I knew I was going to skate,” said Steve, who teamed with his sister to win the 1999 U.S. title. They couldn’t compete last year because Danielle broke her kneecap when Steve dropped her in a practice.

“I think figure skaters are tougher than most people think,” Danielle said. “If there is a way to skate, we’re going to skate.”

Kyoko Ina and John Zimmerman, last year’s champions, are second, followed by Tiffany Scott and Philip Dulebohn. The pairs finish Friday with the long program, worth two-thirds of the final score.

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Kwan, the defending women’s champion, changed her short program to a routine she used in exhibitions three years ago. Performed to “East of Eden,” she also skated it in the Canadian Open, where she was second to Josee Chouinard. She had skated to “Rush,” by Eric Clapton.

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Naomi Lang and Peter Tchernyshev won the original dance to maintain their lead after the first two portions of the ice dance competition.

Beata Handra and Charles Sinek are second, followed by Tanith Belbin and Benjamin Agosto.

The free dance, worth 50% of the final score, will be contested today. The U.S. can send two ice dance teams to the world championships.