Goebel’s Challengers Fall Away

He smiled as he was introduced as the national champion, the only bit of self-indulgence Timothy Goebel permitted himself Saturday. He wasn’t overjoyed after winning his first U.S. men’s figure skating title because he knew his performance in the long program didn’t merit such revelry.

“It’s just a means to an end,” he said of the triumph that gave him one of two spots at the world championships at Vancouver, Canada, in March. “I’d be a little more excited if I’d skated better.”

Goebel, who moved to California last June to train with Frank Carroll in El Segundo, did make several points: That he’s capable of technical marvels, as evidenced by his quadruple salchow-triple toe loop. That he has the sensitivity to skate with his music, “Excerpts from Henry V,” by Patrick Doyle, and not against its grain. That he has the strength to persevere through a strained knee that kept him off the ice for a week early this month.

But he also showed he’s capable of dropping to the level of his competition. And that level was astoundingly low Saturday at the FleetCenter.

Two-time defending champion Michael Weiss, the leader after the short program, fell on two jumps, two-footed the landing of another and touched his hands to the ice on another. Five-time champion Todd Eldredge, struggling to keep himself together after the strap holding his vest to his pants snapped off, did no triple-triple combinations, reduced a planned quadruple loop to a triple and reduced a triple salchow to a double while dodging the strap. Even Goebel stepped out of his second quad and fell on his third.

And so it was that Goebel, who did three quads in his long program at last year’s championships but lost, did one this year and won. Eldredge retained second despite himself, but Weiss dropped to fourth after being outskated by Matthew Savoie--who finished third overall--and Santa Monica’s Trifun Zivanovic, who was fifth.

“I don’t really feel on top of the world,” Goebel said. “Frank tells me every day, ‘It’s not the perfect skater who wins, it’s the best skater.’ I hear every week that Linda Fratianne, at her first world championships [in 1977], the first thing she did, she fell flat on her face and got up and did the rest and won. It’s the best skater, not the perfect skater.”

Goebel and Eldredge will compete in Vancouver, with Savoie and Weiss the first and second alternates. Three-time defending world champion Alexei Yagudin of Russia and his compatriot, 1999 silver medalist Evgeni Plushenko, won’t quake when they see this tape.

“It was not a good night for men’s figure skating,” said Eldredge’s coach, Richard Callaghan. “They’ve had better. . . . It’s been a long time [since the caliber was so low]. I’ve got to go home and figure it out.”

In figure skating, where judges often seem to award marks based on past performances, it’s rare for a champion to fall so far. Weiss got one 4.9 (out of 6.0) for technical merit and peaked at 5.4.

“It’s been such a long year. As soon as I missed the quad [his first jump] it just kind of took the gas out of me,” said Weiss, who missed much of the season because of a fractured foot and was bothered by a sore back.

“I’ve been doing so well all week, and it just kind of caught me off guard. . . . Once I missed the triple axel [his third jump and second fall], it all just hit me. It was like the last straw of this year.”

Said Eldredge: “Today obviously wasn’t our best effort and wasn’t the best skating, but I’ve got two months before the world championships to get in shape to face Alexei.”

Savoie, 20, was fourth at the last two U.S. competitions and third at the 2000 world junior meet. Skating to George Gershwin’s “Concerto in F for Piano and Orchestra,” he did a lively program in which he stepped out of one jump but was otherwise solid. The judges ranked it third, enough to move him up from fifth after the short program.

Savoie skates in his hometown of Peoria, Ill., and attends Bradley University. “Not many high-caliber skaters float through Peoria, Ill.,” he said. “But it’s nice to have a support system and other outlets for me there.”

Zivanovic, who trains at the Skater’s Edge in Torrance and the HealthSouth training center in El Segundo--Goebel’s home rink--made several missteps and reduced several jumps. But his energetic routine to “Bram Stoker’s Dracula” and “Interview With the Vampire” was applauded by the crowd of 9,618.

“It wasn’t my best, but I did a nice triple loop, which I’d never done at nationals,” he said. “I thought my presentation improved. I just keep coming back and coming back and getting better and better.”

Goebel, though not as dazzling as last year, believes his newfound artistry will set him up well for the 2002 Salt Lake City Games.

“Last year I didn’t skate well. I jumped well,” he said. “This year I was disappointed I missed the two jumps, but I was fortunate the other people had made mistakes. I’ve developed so much artistry this year I can afford to miss a jump. Last year I had to be perfect.”

Said Carroll: “He did only one long program before we left, and I was a little apprehensive if he’d be able to compete. I couldn’t be more delighted about today.”