They Have Work to Do Before Olympics

Skating through a yellow sea of stuffed Chevrolet logos thrown onto the ice, you are 30 years old and taking the ice for your last performance at a national championship. A berth on the Olympic team and a national title are at stake and all you hear is, “5.9, 5.8, 5.9, 5.8

You think to yourself, “Wow, they sure left me a lot of room.”

And then you think to yourself, “The guy who skates after I do, Johnny Weir, was 7 years old when I won my first national title.”

This is what might have been running through Todd Eldredge’s mind as he steadied himself to go on to the ice Thursday night for his long program.

But he skated with intensity, speed and command of the ice unmatched by any competitor. His cat-like landing of his triple-axel double-toe combination and six other triple jumps, including another text book triple-axle, belied the fact that he was missing anything technically.

He was.

There was no quadruple jump in his program, and he needs one to compete in Salt Lake City with Evgeni Plushenko and Alexi Yagudin. He knows that. But his goals here were to make the Olympic team and win the national title. He did that.

Goebel skated an easygoing, jazzy rendition of “American in Paris,” performing a seemingly effortless quad-triple combination and two beautiful triple axles. He has made real progress in his style and posture.

For him to win in the Olympics, detractors will say he needs to command the ice more--skate faster, get his shoulders back even more. But there was risk-taking in his programs. Don’t forget his short program, with a quad-triple combination and a triple-axle. He’s the best American jumper since Brian Boitano.

Although he didn’t win here, Goebel’s approach might serve him better in Salt Lake City, where judges will insist on a quad.

The same can also be said for Michael Weiss. It appeared he had a very checkered nationals, with two bad mistakes in his short program and a fall and a stumble in his long program. He, however, has got mileage under his quads. That might help him land them in the Olympics.

Landing eight triples and a quad or eight triples and two quads in the long program is like trying to solve a difficult math problem. You know you can do addition and subtraction, but you need to push yourself to do calculus.

Whoever deciphers the quad and delivers a passionate, commanding performance in Salt Lake City will be the one to challenge Plushenko and Yagudin.

Any of the three U.S. men can do that. But they have to concentrate in the next month, Eldridge on landing the quad and Goebel and Weiss on skating with the fire of an Olympic champion.