Five-Time U.S. Champion Eldredge Knows His Way

In a sport gone mad for spectacular quadruple jumps and garish costumes, Todd Eldredge is a pair of loafers in a rack of stiletto-heeled black leather boots.

There’s a thrill in wearing those heels, just as there’s a thrill in watching world figure skating champion Evgeni Plushenko of Russia perform a quadruple-triple-double combination, or Russia’s Alexei Yagudin and U.S. champion Tim Goebel soar into the air on their quads. But there’s also a fear they will crash in a painful heap, destroying the magic.

Like those classic loafers, Eldredge is the comfortable fallback who never goes out of style.

The five-time U.S. champion and six-time world medalist is among the masters of the underappreciated art of spinning, but he has landed only two quadruple jumps in competition, at last season’s Masters of Figure Skating and Midwest Sectionals. If that’s a dozen or so fewer quads than his rivals have landed, who can say what they’ll be doing eight or 10 years from now, when they’re 30, as he is?

While Yagudin, Plushenko and Goebel streak across figure skating’s landscape like comets, stretching the sport’s technical limits, Eldredge plugs away, steady and true. When others crash around him, the Chatham, Mass., native picks up the pieces, as he did in winning a bronze medal at last year’s World Championships, a silver at the national championships and a bronze at Skate Canada in November.

It’s entirely possible that scenario will be repeated at the Salt Lake City Winter Olympics, allowing Eldredge to win the Olympic medal he has chased since 1992.

It’s not too big a stretch to picture first-time Olympian Plushenko alienating judges with his pelvis-thrusting antics and fragmented music, as he did in finishing second to Yagudin at last month’s Grand Prix final at Kitchener, Canada. Or to imagine Yagudin working himself into too high a state of anxiety to skate his best, as he did at the Goodwill Games in Australia last autumn.

And Goebel, who has undeniably advanced his artistry while training with Coach Frank Carroll in El Segundo, might not have yet persuaded international judges he is a complete enough skater to merit a medal in his Olympic debut.

Without too much difficulty, the planets could align so Eldredge--even without a quad--could win the Olympic medal that eluded him in 1998, when he faltered in the long program and finished fourth, and in 1992, when he had a back injury and finished 10th. Judges know him and respect his attention to the fundamentals of the sport, and it’s not farfetched to think they might be inclined to reward him with a bronze medal.

Eldredge’s coach of more than 20 years, Richard Callaghan, has heard that speculation. But Callaghan, whom Eldredge has followed from Rochester, N.Y., to Philadelphia to Colorado Springs, Colo., to San Diego to their current base of Rochester Hills, Mich., doesn’t limit Eldredge’s sights to the third step of the podium.

“I think that’s what everyone is thinking,” said Callaghan, who coached Tara Lipinski to a gold medal at Nagano in 1998. “I just know

“Everyone should have one [quad] in their arsenal. Whether under the pressure of the Olympic Games everyone does it, that remains to be seen.”

Eldredge smiles easily when asked if the competition at Salt Lake City will be between the two Russians.

“How many guys are there supposed to be [in the competition]? Twenty-four? Then there are 24 guys who have a chance,” he said. “I don’t see it being a 1-2 battle. Before the 1992 Olympics, it was supposed to be between Kurt [Browning] and Viktor [Petrenko], and Paul Wylie snuck into second place [between Petrenko and Petr Barna]. There are a lot of good skaters. On any given day, anyone can get in there and get a medal.”

To get to Salt Lake City, Eldredge must finish in the top three at this week’s U.S. championships, which will determine the Olympic figure skating team. He will begin that quest today at Staples Center when he skates his short program.

The 2-minute 40-second routine includes eight required elements and can kill the chances of competitors who botch one of those spins or jumps. It counts for 33% of the final score. The men will perform their long programs, which account for the rest of their scores, Thursday.

Two Olympic spots are expected to go to Eldredge and Goebel. Michael Weiss, who won the U.S. title in 1999 and 2000 while Eldredge took a sabbatical from Olympic-eligible competition, is likely to vie with Matt Savoie for the other berth.

Sentiment will be on the side of Eldredge, who has represented the Los Angeles Figure Skating Club since he trained in San Diego and was awarded a lifetime membership for winning the bronze medal at the 1991 World Championships. Although he has had an admittedly bumpy season that included error-filled performances at Skate Canada and the Trophee Lalique competitions, he’s determined to make his 12th appearance at the U.S. championships a memorable one.

“As far as nationals go, obviously I want to make the Olympic team,” he said. “That’s my No. 1 goal. But I haven’t won nationals in a while [since 1998], and it would be nice for there to be no more five-pack [of titles]. I want a six-pack.

“The way I’m trying to approach it is, this is the last time I’m going to do this, and I want to make it my best.”

Eldredge started skating when he was 5, switching within weeks from hockey skates to figure skates because he liked to jump and spin. The younger of two sons of a fisherman and his wife, Eldredge pursued his expensive sport with the help of his seaside hometown, which organized bake sales and other benefits to fund his dream. He later returned the favor by financing a foundation that helps young athletes in Chatham. In appreciation, the town named a baseball diamond for him.

His mother knew Callaghan’s mother-in-law, and the two agreed that Callaghan should accept the youngster at a summer skating academy Callaghan was conducting in Rochester, N.Y.

“I saw a little kid that loved to skate and just worked really hard,” Callaghan said. “He had good talent and was so disciplined for 10 years old.”

Eldredge soon went to Philadelphia to work with Callaghan. Their collaboration resulted in Eldredge’s winning the U.S. novice men’s title in 1985, when he was 13, and the U.S. junior title in 1987, when he was 15. That same year, he finished second to Rudy Galindo at the world junior competition. In 1988 he won the world junior title and finished eighth at his first senior-level U.S. competition.

He won the 1991 U.S. title and was a favorite to repeat in 1992, but had to withdraw because of a back injury. He was given a bye into the Albertville Games because he was the defending national champion, but he finished 10th.

He again fell victim to misfortune in 1994. A severe case of flu and a fever of 104 degrees sapped his strength during the U.S. competition, where he finished fourth, missing the team that went to the Lillehammer Games.

Undaunted, he won the U.S. titles again in 1995 and 1997, as well as the 1996 world crown. He won the 1998 U.S. title, even though he fell on his planned quad, and had a good start at Nagano, standing third after the short program. However, he couldn’t hold it together in the long program, reducing the difficulty of two combination jumps, opening up on a triple axel and falling on an improvised triple axel.

Disappointed, he temporarily left the pressure-packed world of Olympic-eligible skating to skate in pro-ams and shows.

There are parallel skating universes: competitions for Olympic-directed skaters, such as the U.S. championships and Grand Prix events, and pro-ams, in which skaters who keep their Olympic eligibility compete against skaters who gave up their eligibility and turned professional. Then there are the pro-ams and shows, where jumps tend to be simpler, and the pressure is reduced. Without the duress of Olympic-style competition, Eldredge renewed himself mentally and physically.

“The time away is why he’s getting better presentation marks now,” Callaghan said. “He’s had time to be more in tune with the audience, to present his music and his material better, and he’s more comfortable in displaying his new presentation talent.”

Upon his return in the 2000-01 season, he finished second to Goebel at the U.S. championships and third at the world meet, behind Plushenko and Yagudin and one place ahead of Goebel.

“I was able to learn some new things and incorporate new things without worrying, ‘I’ve got to do eight jumps,’” he said. “Now I know I can do all those different things, and you find out your style and what works best.”

His season up to now, he said, has been so-so.

“Obviously, it could have been better, not so much the placements, but the performances,” he said.

He has performed his “Carmina Burana” short program several times but didn’t debut his “Lord of the Rings” routine until the Grand Prix final, after he’d scrapped another program to “Band of Brothers.” He was fourth at the Grand Prix finale, skating well only in his “1492” long program in the three-part competition.

“One thing I kind of wanted to do is peak at the end,” said Eldredge, who was lucky to finish third at Skate Canada and equally fortunate to finish second in a weak field at the Trophee Lalique. “I haven’t skated quite up to normal early, but I feel things are progressing....

“[Plushenko and Yagudin] have to go out at the Olympics and do their quads. It’s not like they do them every single time they go out there. Obviously, they do them more often, but it’s definitely a case of how an individual skates that night. Maybe at Salt Lake City, I’ll have a little bit of help from American fans, and there will be a lot of energy and feeling. Who knows what could happen?”

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Daily Schedule

A day-by-day look at the senior skating schedule:

TODAY

* Men’s singles, short program, 8 p.m., at Staples Center (worth one-third of final score).

WEDNESDAY

* Ice dancing, compulsory dance, 5:15 p.m., at Staples Center (two compulsory dances, each worth 10% of the final score).

* Pairs, short program, 8:30 p.m., Staples Center (worth one-third of final score).

THURSDAY

* Women’s singles, short program, 12:30 p.m., Staples Center (worth one-third of final score).

* Men’s singles, long program, 4:15 p.m., Staples Center (worth two-thirds of final score).

* Ice dancing, original dance, 8:30 p.m. Thursday, Staples Center (worth 30% of the final score).

FRIDAY

* Pairs, long program, 7:30 p.m., Staples Center (worth two-thirds of final score).

SATURDAY

* Ice dancing, free dance, noon, Staples Center (worth 50% of the final score).

* Women’s singles, long program, 4:30 p.m., Staples Center (worth two-thirds of final score).